The Phantom and His MarySue Space Adventures
by telegramsam
Summary: What if Erik didn't die at the end of the novel? What if he wasn't completely human? What if someone who knows what he is found him? Will they ever find his true home? Parody of mary-sue fics if the title didn't tip you off. It's intentionally ridiculous, proceed with caution.
1. An Unearthly Child

Author's note: Based on the novel mostly. See my deviantart page for sketches of my Erik (link in my profile) if you want to know what he looks like for this story.If you don't want to bother with the sketches, just know that I'm using Gaston Leroux's description, not any of the film/stage versions. Also, this story is a subtle _parody_ of a Mary Sue story, thus the title. Apologies for the gratuitous borrowing from various sources, including but not limited to Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Metroid and others. Usual disclaimers apply: they're not my toys, I'm just playing with them.

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** The Phantom of the Opera**

**and his**

**Mary-Sue Space Adventure**

**T**hree months now, she had been tracking him, from one system to the next. It was a pretty typical job from first glance – just another slave trafficker with a skill for dodging the authorities and, typically, the authorities dropped the case and put a price on the creature's head, leaving it up to any industrious Hunter to pick up the suspect.

The young auburn-haired woman fidgeted in the pilot's seat of her heavily-modified 389R-66 single-pilot dog fighter. It was an older ship; she'd picked it up for nearly nothing from a scrapper a couple years ago shortly after turning in her second bounty. It had turned out to be something of a lemon. For months, it took constant vigilance to prevent the damn thing from falling to pieces. She had no home to keep up, no family to provide for and little desire for the 'comforts' the other Hunters indulged in – expensive drink, mind-altering drugs and pleasurable company – and was able to pour most of her money into improving her ship and weaponry.

She didn't like where this bounty was taking her. She had not been in the Tellurian system since the freak time storm that swept her from her and half of her room mate from her university dorm room had dropped her on the other side of the galaxy and over a century in the past. The Chizorians researchers who'd been conducting the failed time experiment had apologized profusely in a language she had not understood until being given a translator implant. They offered to send her anywhere in the galaxy she wanted to go, but could not send her back to her rightful time. 19th century Earth held no more meaning for her than any of the alien worlds they spoke of. She briefly considered taking her room mate's remains back to the planet, but it seemed a meaningless gesture. She only had half of them, and girl's future great grandparents wouldn't even know her.

In truth, had they been able to drop her right back into her bed, she would not have returned. The Earth held nothing for her. She had no friends, a family that rarely noticed her and desire for the meaningless future that had been planned out for her. She had left the alien university to wander the streets in search of a new life. It wasn't long before she stumbled into one.

She now found herself wandering the galaxy chasing one bounty after another in a meaningless existence she had not imagined before. It was pure serendipity that she'd entered this line of work. She was neither particularly strong nor fast, but her first bounty had been posted by someone desperate for a sucker. None of the Hunters would have risked such a dangerous mission, even with the expensive exoskeleton being offered up-front. Nobody wanted to take on the valuable genetically engineered monsters that had broken from their isolation force fields overrun the large research space station. Tess, as she had taken to calling herself, was just naïve and starving enough to accept the job.

Miraculously, she had not only survived the job, but managed to complete it. She was allowed to keep the Ayana battle armor as payment. At first she had been disappointed at the lack of a cash payment, but the armor had turned out to be her greatest advantage. Few Hunters could afford them, and for a novice to obtain one was unheard of. The armor more than compensated for her lack of physical prowess and coupled with her shrewd judgment, she'd soon gained something of a reputation among Hunters.

She dropped out of hyper drive as she approached the inner solar system, the Earth rising up before her. She checked the signal from the tracker she'd planted on the Marina's clothing at their last encounter. She would not leave this planet without him. It rarely took her more than a few days to bag a bounty once she had located it, but this one was making a nuisance of himself. She would relish turning this one in, glad to be shut of him once and for all.

She dropped her ship on top of a large building in Paris, careful to set the cloaking shield before climbing down into the large ornate structure. She glanced around – an opera house – this could be interesting.

---

The man lay on his long-deceased mother's bed, clutching his aching chest. Sharp pains speared him from time to time, causing him to suck in gasping breaths. He had long since run out of tears, and now only lay silently staring upward, waiting for the inevitable. He was dying. Christine had left him. She had kissed him and he sent her away. Damn her! She had done the one thing that was sure to destroy him. How could he have killed that little chap she loved after she did that? How had she known what would so completely destroy him?

He was hovering near sleep, exhausted as he was, though unable to slip fully into sleep, when he something intruded on the edge of his hearing. A slight scrabbling sound, like claws or hooves on stone. Rats, most likely. He wanted to ignore the sound, but it grew closer, louder. He finally opened his eyes and dragged himself into a sitting position, peering out into the gloom, his yellow eyes occasionally flashing in the dim light like an animal's. He panicked momentarily when another pair of eyes, higher than his own flashed back, but quickly regained himself, sliding off the bed to his feet and grabbing his lasso with a renewed strength he knew not the source of.

Something stepped into the dim circle of candlelight, some kind of… animal? It was tall and thin, with red eyes, too many limbs and covered in a thick brown-scaled reptilian skin. He could find no way to describe it other than a demon. He had no time to appreciate the irony of a phantom's fear of a demon as the creature slowly advanced toward him. He lifted the lasso, not even pretending that it would be much use to him, but preparing to put it around the thing's neck regardless.

The creature suddenly leaped to the side – no, it was flung to the side. Something had hit it – a net. Another demon stepped into the light, less in height, but broader and covered in blue plates and with a round mirror-like face. It was staring at the netted demon, now emitting an ungodly screeching and chatter. It shot something else at it, a dart of sorts, and the demon soon ceased its struggle. It walked over and flung the larger creature over its shoulder as if it weight no more than a small child.

It turned to look at him (at least, he thought it was, he could discern no eyes). Suddenly, it pushed back the mirrored faceplate, revealing a face that was… human. A girl from he could tell in the dim light. The girl walked toward him, squinting at him as though she, too were unsure of what stood before her.

His mask! He didn't have his mask on! He glanced around frantically, not knowing where he'd dropped it after Christine had fled. He didn't see it anywhere, and gave up. The girl had already seen him anyway, and it would do no good to cover up now. Surprisingly, she didn't seem horrified by him anyway, merely confused.

"Who… who are you?"

English. She spoke.. English. English with an odd accent, American perhaps. He spoke and understood the language, but cared little for it. Nevertheless, the notion of an American girl walking around in some ridiculous sort of armor – it seemed obvious to him now and he felt foolish for believing otherwise earlier – with an demon thrown over her shoulder like she did such things every day left him simply bewildered. He would normally not have bothered giving his name, or the time of day, to another person, not some random girl especially, but the events of the past day coupled with the entrance of these strangers into his home left him feeling like a kite being tossed about in the wind after breaking its string.

"Erik…"

She walked closer, less than a foot away from him, sticking her nose right at his chin, studying his face. He tried to step backwards, but the wall behind him stopped his retreat. She backed off after a minute but continued to stare, lifting an eyebrow in some unspoken question.

"Where are you from?"

Erik glanced around for a quick exit, but saw none. There was no way he could get his lasso around the girl's neck with the high 'collar' of the armor protecting her, and he did not know what sort of weapons she might possess. Perhaps if he answered her questions, she'd take her demon and leave him to die in peace.

"Rouen."

"You were born on this planet then?"

She seemed surprised at his answer. Born on this planet? What did she mean? Of course he was, where else would he be born? On the moon? She must be simple.

"Obviously."

"Huh... Are you sure? You don't have the plates, but still - you've got to be at least half…"

The girl glanced around to the doorway, and he hoped she'd leave.

"Well, you'd better keep your head down. If the Primitive World Guardian Agency catches wind of your presence here, they'll make you leave… and you know you wouldn't like where they'd send you."

Erik scratched his head. What was she talking about?

"Primitive Guardian… What the devil?"

She smirked at him – laughed at him!

"You really don't have any idea what you are, do you? What about your parents, didn't they ever say anything…"

Confusion was quickly giving way to frustration and anger.

"What I am? I'm a man, you stupid girl!"

"Well, obviously, but you've got to be at _least_ half Eranae. So which was it, your ma or your pa?"

Confusion won out again.

"What? Half Er- Er-"

"Eranae. Natives of the Erana system. Little backwater of the Epsilon quadrant. You really don't know, do you?"

Nothing she said made a damn bit of sense to him.

"I… suppose not."

The girl rolled her eyes and huffed a dramatic sigh.

"Would you believe me if I told you there are other planets with people on them, scattered throughout the universe?"

Erik blinked at her.

"No."

What she was suggesting was completely insane. Other planets? Other peoples? Did the creature over her shoulder come from another world? That was impossible! And she said he was half of one of these other… things. Was it really so unbelievable? He didn't look like anyone else on Earth. He was stronger than they were, he had gifts beyond the understanding of most of them…. And he had never met his father. His mother would slap him if he asked about his father when he was a child, as though he'd said something profane. He always thought his father must have been something evil – another demon like himself.

"Well… you should. Listen – I don't know why you're on this planet, but you'd better come leave it before you're found out. You don't look like you'd last a day in one of the prison mines. I'll drop you off somewhere if you want, after I turn this bastard in. Hell, I could probably track down your family. Shouldn't be too hard if they're in the genetic database. I can hack it in no time."

She gestured to the creature over her shoulder before turning her body toward the door, staring at him expectedly. He looked around the room, at the papers scattered on the floor and the rumpled sheets of the bed. His chest ached and he wanted little more than to simply lay down and die. Half the words out of this strange girl's mouth had no meaning for him, but he understood that wherever she would take him would be far from here, beyond the reach of all those who had ever hurt him. He was dying anyway. She started toward the door. He followed.


	2. Stray Cat Strut

The half-breed followed her silently up the many stairs and ladders back to the roof of the opera house. She had the sinking feeling that she'd really stuck her foot in it this time. Why the hell did she just offer to take this bedraggled man with her? She shook her head at her own stupidity. He could kill her in her sleep for all she knew. He didn't seem to have half an idea of just what he was, but it could be an act. He might murder her and steal her ship. She'd have to keep a blaster close by at all times. She couldn't sleep in the armor, but she wasn't about to let her guard down.

Of course, there was also the possibility that it wasn't an act. What the hell had an Eranae been doing on Earth? What was truly surprising was the fact that the DNA had been compatible to produce living offspring. The man tailing her shouldn't exist! She wondered what circumstances could possibly have led to his birth. Eranae were far from beautiful by human standards, with their hides half-covered by flat bone-like plates and their generally skeletal appearance. The man – Erik, he'd said his name was – had yellow irises but at least his eyes looked otherwise fairly human and he had normal soft-looking (if rather jaundiced) skin. A full-blooded Eranae had bright yellow eyes with double pupils vaguely reminiscent of a goat's that glowed even in broad daylight. They were reputed to be a relatively peaceful people despite their foreboding appearance, however, but there were always rogues in even the most passive races.

She had to stop a few times on the stairs to allow Erik to catch is breath. Now that she was able to get a good look at him, she thought he looked like death warmed over. The marks of his mixed heritage – his impossibly deep-set eyes, the yellow irises, the general lack of a nose and hair (other than the few incongruous thick tufts around his forehead and ears), his height and thin frame – didn't help dispel the image in the slightest. Beyond that, he was pale, sweating, shaking slightly and eyes were glazed over. He had to be quite ill, she thought. Well, she'd take a look at him back in the ship. She had no formal medical training, but she'd picked up a bit of first aid and general knowledge of the available technology for her own sake and curiosity soon after the "accident" that had landed her so far from home. If nothing else, she knew how to use the scanners on the ship and could easily procure medical aid from a proper doctor if the need arose.

After a good hour of climbing, they finally reached the roof of the building. She smirked at the gasp from the man behind her when she disengaged the cloaking shield and her ship appeared.

"Well, come on then."

She held out a hand to him, but he did not even notice her. He was still staring slack-jawed at the small ship she'd only half-seriously christened the Ziggy Stardust. She laughed and walked over to poke him. He flinched when she did so and stared at her as though she were a ghost.

"Are you coming, or are you just going to stand there with your mouth open like a fish? If you're having second thoughts, I'll leave you here. You won't get another chance though."

Erik closed his mouth and seemed to be weighing his options.

"I'm going."

He went around her and walked up into the ship ahead of her. She shook her head and followed after a minute. She found him inside staring at the interior with the same sense of disbelief. She unceremoniously dumped her unconscious bounty on the deck against the bulkhead. He'd be out for at least another thirty hours, so there was no danger of him causing trouble. She could re-dose him with the sedative if she needed to anyway.

"I'm afraid this ship isn't really designed to accommodate passengers. You can sit or sleep wherever you can find a decent spot if you want, but don't mess with anything. Press the wrong button and you could get us both killed. Ask me if you need something. You can call me Tess by the way."

She scratched the back of her neck, feeling supremely uncomfortable and again regretting her actions. She'd traveled alone for over three years now. This was the first time another being had boarded her ship while conscious since she purchased the vessel. She rarely spoke to other sentients these days, except when turning in a bounty. She had little in common with them, really. She hadn't really fit in with her peers when she was still living an ordinary life on Earth. Had she ever been anything other than an alien? She'd certainly never felt like a member of the human race, or any other race for that matter.

Tess ducked into the small cargo hold and grabbed a bottle of water, reemerging and silently shoving the object into Erik's hands, hoping it would keep him going long enough to get him to a medical facility. She left him to his confusion and dropped into the pilot's seat, setting the coordinates for the Civilian Security Agency's headquarters, intending to unload her captive and collect the payment before doing anything else.

Tess guided the ship up from the roof of the opera house and pointed it toward the stars, engaging the pulse engines to clear the inner solar system before kicking in the hyper drive and bounding off into the odd blank white dimension known as subspace. Even in subspace, it would take over an hour to reach the other side of the galaxy and she turned around to her accidental companion. He was sitting on the deck with long legs stretched out before him, staring blankly at some random point on the bulkhead across from him. He looked like a lost child and Tess wanted to hit him for it. At least he'd been drinking the water. He didn't look as ill as before, but his breathing still sounded off. She glanced at the unconscious slave trafficker still slumped over peacefully in the corner.

"I'm gonna turn that loser in and pick up the bounty and then I'm taking you to a medical facility. Don't know what you've got but I don't want it."

Erik seemed to tense at the suggestion.

"I'm not going to a damned doctor. I hate doctors."

Erik's mother had invited a doctor into their home only once, when he'd been deathly ill with scarlet fever as a young child of maybe four or five. The man had refused to simply treat him, instead wanting to buy Erik for study. His mother's hatred for him had not been so complete yet at that point and she'd thrown the doctor out.

"I don't care what you hate. I'm not getting sick from whatever you've got if it's catching. Besides, I know good place on a planet near the agency, very discreet. They're good at what they do, not like those ignorant butchers you're familiar with. Trust me, they'll fix whatever's wrong with you quickly and won't ask questions. It'll be a few hours anyway."

Erik didn't seem convinced, but was too weak and out of his element to argue further at the moment. Tess had nothing to do until they reached the Pharia system and sat down on the crate of blaster power packs that was she'd left sitting on the deck a week before.

"So nobody really ever told you about your heritage"

"No. My mother grew angry if I asked about my father."

"Oh… Huh. I just wonder what your father was doing on Earth in the first place. It's a Class 3 planet – a habitable planet populated by primitive sentients that is – and it's off limits to travel, highly illegal. There's not much there of any great value anyway…"

Erik shrugged at her. It made no sense to him. Nothing made sense to him at the moment. He wondered if he were merely caught in some mad dream brought on by a fever. He decided he probably was. He might as well play along for the moment, then. He'd probably die soon anyway. Maybe he already was. Some afterlife, then.

"From which planet did you come?"

"Same Earth as you, actually. The United States, Georgia specifically, though not 19th century. I was born in 1984. Will be born in 1984. Was, will, hell if I know. Time travel makes grammar confusing... I got tossed into a different time and place by some botched alien experiment. Stupid Chizorian researchers, don't know their arse from a hole in the ground…"

"1984? What is the world like in 1984?"

"Dismal."

Tess turned from him before he could respond and ducked back into the cargo hold, digging out some ration bars. They tasted like cardboard, but would keep you going for weeks if you had nothing else. That and they were dirt cheap. She tossed one to Erik, who didn't seem to know what to do with it, and ripped the wrapping off of hers, all but stuffing it into her mouth. She hadn't eaten in nearly a day, so consumed had she been with tracking down her prey once and for all. Erik copied her motions in removing the wrapping, but ate with more manners and far less gusto, grimacing at the first bite. How something could have almost no taste and yet taste awful all at once was a mystery Tess had never solved, but as she rarely paid attention to what she ate, she didn't much care.

Erik swallowed the dry pasty food thickly as another pain shot through his chest. He rubbed at his sternum and breathed shallowly. Tess watched him through wary eyes.

"Hang in there, alright? It won't take long to dump off stupid over there and collect my money. Then I'll get you fixed, whatever's wrong with you."

_Fixed_? What was he, a broken chair? Erik leaned his head back against the cool metal of the bulkhead and tried not to breath too deeply and upset whatever was catching behind his breastbone. Aren't dreams supposed to be painless?

Tess didn't know why she even gave a rip whether this man died or not. She used to have a habit of picking up strays when she still lived on Earth, though they were usually of the feline variety. Maybe his yellow eyes reminded her of a cat. She went back to the pilot's seat and sat down, fiddling with the navigational settings and generally trying to look preoccupied to discourage conversation.

They continued in silence until the ship dropped back into real-space. Tess manually piloted the ship toward the docking area of the large satellite station in orbit around the fourth planet of the Pharia system, sending her identification and receiving clearance before docking the Stardust with a jolt that had her passenger clutching his chest once again.

"Wait here, alright? I should be back in less than half an hour."

She pulled the visor back over her face and bent down to pick up her catch. The space station was bustling as usual, mostly with disgruntled and corrupt government employees of more species than she could count. The exoskeleton she wore commanded respect though, and the sea of aliens parted nervously before her. It was a quick trip to the little-known basement office where a couple policemen unloaded her burden and handed her a receipt. She took the disk up several floors and stood in line with all the other government employees to receive her payment. She found it slightly amusing for some reason that she was paid for her grim services in the same manner as the pencil-pushers and paper-filers (well, it was all digital of course, but bureaucrats are bureaucrats, no matter where in the universe you go).

She pocketed the 1500 credits. Meager pay for the amount of work, but it would feed her for a few weeks… and pay for Erik's treatment, whatever was wrong with him. She had a bank account that she'd been filling for a while and had enough money saved up to purchase a very comfortable home, had she cared to settle somewhere, but somehow she didn't think she'd ever use it. Life had become little more than an arcade game to her, see how many points you can rack up, and the bank account was nothing more than a scoreboard for her at this point. The accumulation of material goods wasn't very attractive to her. She knew some Hunters who were like that once they became successful, buying expensive homes and clothing themselves like kings and growing fat, lazy and greedy. She dreaded becoming anything like them. The idea of spending money on someone other than herself made her feel a little less selfish.

Tess took the maglift up a few more floors to the small shopping mall at the top of the satellite. She usually hated shopping in such blatantly commercial places, but spared a few minutes to duck into one of the clothing stores to pick up a few changes of simple, comfortable clothing for her new alley cat. She doubted that a Victorian-era Frenchman would care for them, fashion-wise, but he'd be better off in them than in one of those monkey suits, wherever he ended up. She almost picked up a pair of boots as well, but while she could easily guess out a shirt size for him, she had no clue what size shoes he took. There would be time for that later, anyway. She was tempted to spend a bit more time browsing the shops, but remembered the man clutching his chest on the deck of her ship and returned to the docking bay.

She found him in pretty much the same state she'd left him in. He glanced up at her when she entered but didn't speak. She stashed her shopping in the cargo hold. She could give them to him later, but at the moment, she was in a hurry to get him to a clinic.


	3. Fish Stew

Tess despised waiting rooms, and the waiting rooms in a public clinic were the worst of them all. The usual morass of sick and injured aliens surrounded them. Despite the differences in details of hair coverage, coloration and limb number, the place was not much different from a typical waiting room on Earth. Children with dripping noses, beaks and snouts wailed while their parents tried to calm the down, individuals with cloth soaked with blood of all colors clutched to cuts and puncture wounds of varying degrees and aliens with energy weapon burns slumped in the chairs, and the whole place reeked of antiseptic.

If Tess was annoyed, Erik was bordering on a panic attack. Never in his life had he been surrounded by so many without his mask. He knew, logically, that his face would garner no more attention in this motley assortment than any other, but the instinct to run for darkness was not so easily dispelled. The only thing that kept him in his seat was the sharp pain in his chest and Tess's armored hand on his shoulder. She did not look like a strong girl, but the armor must have somehow amplified her strength; he could not have risen from under that firm grip if his life had depended on hit. He kept his gaze at his feet and tried not to breath too erratically.

"I know you said you don't like doctors, but good grief! It's not worth getting this worked up over! Trust me, it'll be easy. They'll scan you, tell you what your problem is, and fix it. We'll be done in fifteen minutes… once we actually get called anyway…"

Erik clenched his teeth in frustration.

"It's not the damn doctor… I hate crowded rooms."

Tess raised an eyebrow at the revelation of his agoraphobia. She hated crowds as well, and people in general, but she certainly wasn't apt to panic attacks over the matter.

"Well… Um, we'll be out of here soon."

It was about twenty minutes later when they were finally called forward. Erik nearly jumped out of his skin when the blue feathered bird-like nurse steered him into a tall box-like contraption, fighting her attempts to get him to stand still. Tess laughed at him, earning herself a scowl that would turn milk sour.

"If you don't stand still, she can't do the scan. Honestly, stop acting like a baby!"

The scan took less than five seconds and surprised Erik in its brevity. Tess smiled at him. He did not smile back.

"Wonders of modern technology, huh?"

The nurse instructed them to go to the next room where a doctor would come with the scan results and a diagnosis. Erik did not have a translator implant, and caught none of what sounded to him like gibberish, but Tess grabbed his arm and hauled him off in the direction of the next room to spend yet more time waiting.

Tess hated places like this and felt she ought to resent Erik for having to come here, but was oddly enjoying herself. It felt weird to be interacting with another after so long an isolation, but it was not entirely unpleasant. Perhaps she should have picked up a pet earlier.

The doctor, another of the Marina species like the one she'd turned in a few hours ago, but a dusky green in coloration, stepped into the room and began speaking directly to Erik, who merely blinked at him.

"He doesn't have a translator. Just tell me."

"Ah. Well, as I was saying, his pericardium is infected with a type of bacteria I am not familiar with, but we should not have any trouble treating it. A single injection should clear up the matter, but I was wondering if you could tell me the origin of the bacteria?"

"It's from a fairly unknown backwater planet. Nowhere especially interesting."

The doctor gave her a knowing look, clearly catching the underlying meaning that they'd been on an illegal planet, but said nothing. This clinic had a reputation for knowing how to keep its collective mouth shut, but even if it had not, her formidable Ayana exoskeleton again would have spared her any unwanted attention. Taking that first foolish job time and again turned out to be the best move she had ever made. She turned to Erik to explain to him, trying to remember when bacteria had first been discovered. In the end she decided to spare him the details.

"There's a problem with your heart, but a single injection will fix it, apparently. The doctor needs your consent to give it to you though."

Erik nodded to the doctor and the doctor left to retrieve the datapad and the medication. He returned and held the datapad out to Erik.

"There's a square on the screen, press your thumb onto it."

Erik almost did so without question before putting two and two together and turning to Tess in annoyance.

"What the devil do they need my thumbprint for?"

"It's like a signature, that's all. Just means you've had the problem explained to you and you agree to the treatment. Just do it, or you'll likely die from what you've got."

"So they can track me later?"

"If you behave yourself, they'll have no reason to track you anywhere. Just press your thumb on the damn datapad."

Erik regarded her suspiciously but did so and the doctor grabbed his arm, jabbing him swiftly with a needle before taking the datapad back and leaving the room to go to the next patient.

"That's it."

Tess got up and grabbed Erik's hand as though he were a small child. He pulled his hand from her grasp, but she merely grabbed it again, this time with a grip that he would not easily escape. He looked at her like she had three heads, but made no further protest as she dragged him through the crowded waiting room out to the front desk. He watched her as the receptionist handed her datapad after datapad and she filled them out swiftly. Finally, she dug around in the bag at her hip, pulling out some small odd coins and giving them to the alien behind the desk. She waited until she received her change and grabbed Erik's hand again.

"What did it cost?"

"300 credits. Not as much as I figured it would."

"Is that a considerable amount of money?"

"It's worth about a week's food for one person, if you regard that as 'considerable'."

Erik stopped and his hand slipped out of Tess's. She turned around to look at him.

"You realize I have no means of paying you back?"

Tess narrowed her eyes at him, as though she were studying his face once again.

"I didn't expect you to. Does it bother you or something? You don't owe me anything if that's what you're worried about. I've got money to spare."

Erik stared at her for a long time. Few people had ever sacrificed anything for his sake, only one without resentment, and in a lot of ways, he'd recently betrayed the Persian daroga. He shook his head. He'd likely never see the daroga again anyway. He tried to take comfort in the statement that Tess had money to spare, wondering at the uncomfortable weight settling in his belly from the whole episode.

"Come on, let's go back to the Stardust."

"The what?"

"My ship. The Ziggy Stardust."

"Ziggy Stardust?"

"Don't ask, long story. Just come on."

Instead of heading directly back to the ship, Tess made a detour to a small off-the-beaten-path restaurant, fairly dragging Erik by the hand the whole way while cutting a path through the dense crowd. Where did all these people come from? Erik had never been in a city so crowded in his life, not even Paris was so dense. The ugly metal and glass edifices rose beyond sight and flying machines zipped back and forth overhead. Garish glowing signs advertising he-didn't-want-to-know-what were plastered all over the place. If it weren't for Tess's strong grip, he would have collapsed into a corner somewhere. What a horrible place! There was no beauty here, not a tree or bird to be seen, and the buildings were an insult to architecture.

He was hyperventilating by the time Tess dragged him into a booth at the back of the surprisingly busy restaurant and silently thanked God that the sharp pains in his chest were beginning to dissipate. The armored hand rubbed lightly at his back and he found himself inexplicably leaning into the touch.

"Calm down, Erik. Honestly! You're just going to have to get this phobia of yours under control. Nearly every modern city in the galaxy is exactly like this and you're going to have to put up with crowds no matter where you end up."

Erik buried his face in his hands.

"I want… my mask… back."

"Your who-what?"

"My mask… I had… a white mask."

Tess took a minute to process the information. Well, of course he'd have to wear a mask in 19th century France. He was probably surrounded by superstitious peasants all the time.

"Oh… Well masks are illegal in most public places anyway. Besides, nobody here would notice you. I mean, you might look a bit odd to anyone who's familiar with the Eranae, but they keep to themselves so most people have never even seen one. Besides, there are so many different races around here you'd just get lost in the crowd. Everybody's always in a hurry, they aren't even looking at you."

Lost in the crowd… Only in the dead of night with a hooded cloak had Erik ever been able to get lost in a crowd. Erik's breathing started to slow to a normal rate, but he was still shaking like a leaf. A few tears escaped despite his attempts to stop them. He wiped them away and took a few deep breaths to compose himself.

"Well, just chill out. We'll eat dinner and head back to the Stardust and you can sleep if you want."

Erik blinked at the term 'chill out' but the waitress arrived before he could ask about it. Tess ordered a plate with nerf steak and a fried vegetable side that approximated something like Japanese tempura. She glanced at Erik and realized she had no clue what he would like.

"What do you usually eat? Can't guarantee they'll have anything like it, but they might have something approximate."

Erik thought for a minute. His stomach wasn't up to anything especially heavy, but a hot soup would please him greatly at the moment.

"Bouillabaisse or something like it would be fine."

"I have no clue what that is."

"Stew. Fish stew."

"Fish stew, huh?"

Tess scanned down the soup menu. There was something there with a local variety of a fish-like species in it and a few vegetables and she ordered it for him, along with some bread and a local ale-like brew for them both.

"Well, I doubt it'll taste much like what you get back home, but it's fish and it's soup."

Erik waved off her concern. His panic had given way to exhaustion and wished only to lay down somewhere and rest. He resisted the temptation to prop his head on the table and sleep. Their meal arrived about a half an hour later. Tess stifled a laugh as Erik sniffed ridiculously at his soup. She wondered how well he could smell without a proper nose but didn't ask for fear of ruffling his feathers. She dug into her own plate, making short work of her first real meal in over a week. Ration bars might keep you alive, but they were not half as satisfying as real food. She was finished long before Erik, who slowly sipped his drink and ate.

"So is the soup any good?"

"It isn't want I was expecting, but it's not unpleasant."

Tess shrugged and grabbed some of the bread, picking at it while she waited for him to finish. She hated slow eaters, especially since she'd had no need to wait on another person in years. She wasn't quite rude enough to tell him to hurry it up, but her annoyance was obvious.

"If you didn't shovel your food like a starved pig, you wouldn't be waiting so long."

Tess rolled her eyes at him.

"I'll eat however I damn well please."

She left to make use of the restroom and returned to find him almost exactly where she left him. A few minutes later, Erik finally appeared to be finished and the waitress dropped the bill on the table. Tess left a few coins and grabbed Erik, once again hauling him through the claustrophobic streets to docking area and boarded the Ziggy Stardust.

Tess returned to the pilot's chair and Erik glanced around several times before giving up and laying down flat on his back on the deck, covering his eyes with his forearm. He breathed deeply without pain fort he first time in over a week. Did this mean he wouldn't die, after all?

Tess glanced back at him, then put the Stardust into orbit. She sat back and stared at the stars to consider the immediate future. Where to next? She owed it to Erik to look for his father's family but now that she had him, she found that part of her wanted to keep him to herself. It truly would be like having a pet – he'd be totally dependant on her, for a while at least… but that would be a cruel thing to do, especially since she'd told him that she would look for his family back on Earth. She sighed and turned around, watching his even breathing. He was asleep, finally, and looked like he truly needed it as well. He'd be sore after sleeping on the metal floor, but there was nowhere else to put him at the moment. At least she'd be spared a decision on their next destination until he woke up.


	4. Mincing Words

Tess set the coordinates for the Epsilon quadrant. Twenty minutes later the Stardust dropped out of subspace. She wouldn't approach the Erana system until she had a more precise destination. The Eranae were somewhat xenophobic by nature and did not welcome tourists. She could hack into the galactic genetic databases from her ship's computer without much trouble. She just need a sample for comparison. It wouldn't be difficult to extract the DNA, she had the equipment required onboard – she occasionally needed it to confirm the identity of her prey.

She looked over at Erik. He was sleeping deeply and she was loathe to wake him. She pulled the sampling kit from the small cargo hold and quietly walked over to him, using a pair of tweezers to pull a single hair from the black tuft on his forehead, careful to get the root with it. He twitched and rolled onto his side but did not wake up.

It would take about fifteen minutes for the catalyst to do its work and then she could submit the results to the database for likely matches. She stared at the distant stars shining ahead of the Stardust. They were always much brighter without an atmosphere to dim them.

She took the results from the analyzer and loaded them into the main computer. She accessed the Galactic Information Database and used a few codes obtained through less than legal means to gain access to the Civilian Security Agency and exploited a few convenient weaknesses in their system to break into the genetic database.

Feeding Erik's genetic code into an automated search engine quickly produced a list of the closest matches. At the top of the list was one Ohte Ohtamacil. Tess pulled up his files and frowned. He was no one that Erik would benefit getting involved with. He was a thrice-convicted felon with an impressive rap sheet – smuggling, murder, rape and more than a page and a half of various misdemeanors greeted Tess as she scrolled down the page. His current residence was listed as a penal work colony on a little-known moon – one of the much-dreaded mines. So Erik's father was out of the question.

He had to have other family, though. The Eranae were a hardy race, often living over 120 years in good health. She scrolled back up to the top of the page and copied Ohte's father's name into the search engine. Oro Ohtamacil proved to be a much more viable option. He was still alive, and living on Erana Prime. More than that, he was the patriarch of his family and quite wealthy. He owned land and had a reputation as something of a philanthropist, engaging in charity projects in some of the neighboring systems. Such generosity with aliens was rare among the Eranae.

Tess wondered how such a venerable man came to sire a beast like Ohte. It wasn't difficult to imagine how Ohte had sired Erik, though. No wonder his mother had slapped him for speaking of it. The biography provided was brief – he and younger siblings had amassed much of the family's current fortune in foreign trade, though the Ohtamacil house had been wealthy for generations immemorial and traced their heritage back to the planet's historic nobility. Ohte had been Oro's second son of three, but the only one of his five children to 'go bad'. The eldest son was Oro's business partner and the youngest son was employed with government in some capacity. The two daughters had married and moved off the planet to a neighboring colony some decades ago.

The trick now, of course, would be contacting the family. Tess was ambivalent on whether or not she even should. The Eranae were rather insular and did not interbreed with other species commonly, and considering the reputation of Erik's father, they may not want to associate themselves with Ohte's offspring. Would Erik's family accept him, or would it just be another lesson in ostracization? It was obvious that he had not had a very happy life back in France. She knew nothing of his history, but his tendency to panic around crowds spoke of cruelty at their hands. It didn't take much for human beings to reject one of their own, and physical ugliness is not a sin that humanity forgives readily.

Tess downloaded the files on Erik's family and punched in the coordinates for one of the neighboring star systems. He needed to get a translator implanted before even considering a meeting anyway, and she needed to think about the best way to approach this latest quandary. Tess leaned back and fell asleep herself until Erik began to stir and the sound woke her.

"I'll bet your back is sore."

Erik sat up and groaned at the movement.

"That's what I thought. Well, get up and stretch out a bit, we're going into another city."

Erik seemed horrified at the proposition but stood up nonetheless.

"You need a translator implanted. It's a bit of neural wiring, basically, that translates spoken foreign language for you. Sounds scary, but it's harmless and quite useful. The operation only takes half an hour."

"You want to let some doctor put wires… in my head?"

"Well, that's kind of the idea. I have them. It's totally painless and the implants are so thin you can't even see them without a microscope… You can't function in intergalactic society without it unless you want to learn a few hundred thousand languages. You might as well get it over with."

Tess chewed her lip, trying to judge when the best time to tell him about his spotty family history would be. She'd have to say something eventually, but at the moment it seemed best to take each issue one at a time. There was one thing she could go ahead and take care of, and ducked into the cargo hold to retrieve her earlier shopping, tossing the paper bag to him.

"I bought some clean clothes for you at the satellite. You ought to change before we go into the clinic, it's kind of hoity-toity and you look like you've been wearing what you've got on for a week."

Erik pulled the clothing from the bag and unfolded them. His disappointment was obvious.

"I know they aren't the height of fashion, but they'll be comfortable enough. Trust me, you want something comfortable. Just put them on."

He glanced around for privacy and finding none, stared at her incredulously. Tess rolled her eyes and turned her back on him.

"Don't worry you big baby, I won't look."

She listened to the rustling of fabric and stole a few covert looks at his warped reflection against the stars in the angled Primeglass of the cockpit. Even with the distortion, she got a pretty good idea of how he was put together. He looked entirely human from the neck down, albeit rather underfed and bearing more than a few scars. He was wiry, but well-muscled.

He finished dressing and Tess piloted the ship to the planet's surface. Luckily, they didn't have to walk through the crowded sidewalks. Tess was lucky to find a spot to land the Stardust right next to the clinic. The place was decidedly higher-class than the health clinic she'd taken him to earlier, with clean white walls, ugly statuettes and modern sculpture and architecture. It still smelled of antiseptic though. They didn't have to wait ages in a room filled with casualties, at least. Tess filled out datapad forms at the desk and Erik rubbed his sore muscles and looked around, his obvious disapproval of the décor written all over his features. Tess randomly poked him in the side without glancing up, eliciting a very un-phantomlike squeak.

"This shouldn't take long. The doctor will send a nurse out to fetch you in about an hour. We didn't exactly have an appointment after all… Might as well sit down."

Tess flopped onto a plush couch and Erik sat beside her after a moment's hesitation. Tess leaned her head back against the cushion and closed her eyes. She'd not had enough sleep lately and exhaustion was creeping up on her.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Hm? Doing what?"

"Helping me. I was dying you know. Would have died in peace if you'd not snatched me from my opera house."

The corner of Tess's mouth twitched but she didn't open her eyes.

"Snatched? You followed me of your own accord, if I remember correctly. As to why, I dunno. I was bored, I guess. You looked like you needed help."

Erik huffed.

"Boredom? That's an interesting reason to give someone aid… Though I suppose I ought to be grateful you are honest…"

"What did you want me to say? That I thought you were cute and looked lost?"

Erik wasn't sure what to make of that statement.

"No… And I wouldn't believe you if you said I was 'cute' anyway."

Tess shrugged.

"Why not? 'Cuteness is in the eye of the beholder' after all."

"Beauty."

"Beauty what?"

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That is the adage. Not 'cuteness'."

"I know that, dummy. I was simply making a point."

Erik sighed. Why had he followed this girl? She was clearly insane.

"Boredom isn't much of a reason to help someone."

Tess opened her eyes and scowled at Erik.

"Well, I don't know, okay? I've been a Hunter for three years and maybe I'm sick of traveling by myself. Does that satisfy your insatiable curiosity? What does it matter anyway? If you're lucky you'll get a family and home out of the deal, and at least you won't be living under an opera house with rats anymore! What were you doing under there anyway?"

It was Erik's turn to scowl.

"Because everyone at the surface hated me! You wouldn't understand..."

"Understand what? What it's like to have everyone hate you? I know that well enough, I didn't have a single friend from preschool through high school. I was the neighborhood punching bag."

Erik huffed in disbelief.

"So you had to put up with a few schoolyard bullies. You know nothing!"

Tess rolled her eyes. Leave it to her to pick up the world's biggest emo boy…

They were spared further argument when a nurse appeared announcing that a client had cancelled her appointment and they would be able to do the operation immediately. Tess roughly shoved Erik in the nurse's direction and slumped back down on the couch to sulk.

Erik was led by the nurse into a sterile-looking room and motioned over onto an operating table. He lay down nervously and the sedative was a welcome relief. He dreamed that Christine had come to him on the back of a winged horse, begging him to visit the moon with her, but her expression turned to horror as he approached and held out an arm sprouting blue feathers to her. He was running after her as the horse took flight and soared off toward the stars when he woke up. A hand with too many fingers was shaking him by the shoulder.

"You're awake. Good. Do you understand me?"

Surprisingly, Erik did. He nodded his assent.

"Ah. Thank the gods! I wasn't certain the implants would function correctly. Your neural physiognomy is somewhat unusual. I don't suppose you would enlighten me as to your origin?"

Erik looked the alien doctor up and down and decided he looked untrustworthy.

"No, I wouldn't. If you don't mind, I need to get back to Tess."

"Tess? Oh, that little Tellurian you came here with? Yes, she's in the waiting room. Rare species, Tellurians. I was a bit surprised to see one. I don't believe their society has achieved interstellar flight yet."

"No, they haven't."

"Where did you pick her up then? I'm told that class 3 planets are off-limits."

"I didn't 'pick her up,' _she_ found _me_."

Erik slid off the table and staggered on unsteady feet.

"The sedative won't fully wear off for another few minutes. You should regain your coordination shortly. Contact one of the nurses if you continue to have trouble."

Erik sneered at the doctor and walked to the door, retracing his steps back to the waiting room. Tess was sprawled on the couch, sleeping. He got his revenge for her earlier jab, poking her sharply in the ribs. He almost didn't dodge the fist that flew toward his face. Tess blinked at him, momentarily confused as to her surroundings.

"Oh, you're finished already? Good, let's get out of here. The smell is giving me a headache."

For once, Erik agreed with her fully.


	5. Ladybug's Picnic

Tess finally shed the exoskeleton when they reached the Stardust. She didn't normally make a habit of wearing it all day long, only when in pursuit of her quarry. She decided that Erik _probably_ wasn't planning on killing her and if he was, she still had a blaster tucked in her belt. Sleeping in the damn thing on the couch in that waiting room had done nothing for her back either. She stretched shamelessly, cracking her neck and back and eliciting odd looks from Erik.

She sat down on the blaster power pack crate again and stared at Erik, making him fidget under her gaze. She had to tell him. What would be the best way of going about it? He didn't know what DNA was, that's for damn sure.

"Listen… I was able to compare your, uh, chemical pattern with a database. I found some of your relatives."

Erik blinked at her with a look of incredulity.

"Um, I found your paternal grandfather. He's still alive and he's on Erana Prime. Very successful business man in fact, and he works with your, uh, uncle."

Erik nodded at her, absorbing the information slowly.

"So my father is… dead then?"

Tess could say yes. She probably should say yes and spare the drama, but she hated lying. Especially to her pets. He'd find out eventually anyway, if he ever managed to meet up with the rest of his family.

"Um… Not exactly…"

"What do you mean, 'not exactly'? Either he's dead or he's alive. There is no in-between the last time I checked."

"He's in a prison colony, one of the mines. Two lifetime sentences, no parole. You couldn't contact him even if you wanted to, and trust me you don't want to."

Erik dropped his gaze to the floor. It did not surprise him that he was the son of a felon. Like father, like son, after all. He didn't really need to know, but morbid curiosity and perhaps a touch of masochism pushed him to ask.

"Do you know his crimes?"

"Smuggling, murder, rape... and about a page and a half's worth of misdemeanors."

Erik let out a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob. It didn't take him long to put two and two together either.

"No wonder my mother hated me! She must have seen her attacker's face every time she looked at me!"

Tess swallowed thickly, feeling a bit naked. She hated these kinds of awkward situations. I mean, what do you say to a man in a situation like that? She sniffled a bit and scratched her neck.

"Well… It's not your fault, what your father did. Not like you could help being born, either. She shouldn't have hated you."

Erik didn't respond to her. He looked like he was about to cry. Tess rolled her eyes in frustration and went back to the cockpit. She didn't think he'd appreciate a hug anyway. At least, he didn't look like the cuddly type.

"I don't know whether I'll be able to arrange a meeting with your grandfather or not. Gaining clearance onto Erana Prime is a bit difficult. They don't care for outsiders much…"

Erik gave a noncommittal grunt but didn't seem to be paying much attention to her.

"Do you even want to contact him? I mean, we can forget about the whole thing if you'd rather not. I can drop you off on one of the colony worlds and you can find your own path… Or, if you want to… you can stay with me?"

Erik looked up at her suspiciously.

"You'd let me stay here?"

"Um, sure, why not? I could teach you my trade, if you want to be a Hunter. Help me bag a few and I'll split the money. You could buy your own ship, or we could work together."

Erik looked out the cockpit window at the stars, trying to weigh his options. He could have a family, a _real_ one… But would they want him? He was half human, and Tess said they didn't like outsiders. Was the chance worth the risk of getting burned again? He could stay with Tess and become a bounty hunter. He'd probably be good at it. He was skilled enough at killing people, thanks to his time spent in Persia, simply catching them should be easy.

Tess's nose twitched and she looked around the ship. A part of her was desperate to keep him with her. She wasn't entirely sure why she wanted him around so badly, other than to have someone nearby to fill the silence.

"Uh, if you want to think about it for a while, there's no rush. I mean, it'll take a while anyway. I'll have to track down the codes to contact your grandfather's house, then get an audience with him – he's probably a busy man – and try to convince him that I'm not simply conning him… Hey, I know a nice uninhabited little planet we can spend a bit of time on. How does a little holiday sound?"

"Whatever suits you. The ship is yours, I am but a passenger."

"Well, it does suit me. Zanina Three it is then. Nothing but animals and pretty scenery. Totally untouched. You'll like it."

Tess set the coordinates and the jumped into subspace. She stopped on the way at a small outpost and left Erik on the Stardust while she ducked into a shop to pick up some food. More alien stuff, but tasty nonetheless. She was fond of this particular little grocery and made a point of visiting when she was in the area. A couple days camping on a virgin planet suited Tess just fine.

They arrived at Zanina Three and Tess landed the ship on a broad grassy plane surrounded by craggy hills and, in the distance, a chain of tall snow-capped mountains. A small river wound past them and disappeared into a distant lake hugging the horizon. Scrubby pine-like treeish plants dotted the scenery along with scattered boulders, likely dropped by some glacier that had retreated thousands of years ago. The sky was covered in gray clouds but the air was relatively warm and the gloom didn't bother Tess at all. It was like being under a blanket, she decided. She went and dragged a small tent from the cargo hold and some blankets and pillows. Some winged creatures flew overhead, too fast to get a good look at them.

"We'll stay here for a few days, I think, let you consider your options. It's mid afternoon right now, I think a day lasts a little under twenty five hours on this planet, last time I checked. You can stay here if you want, or go explore a bit. Just keep the Stardust within your line of sight and don't get lost. There are animals about, but none of them are especially dangerous if you leave them alone. The largest predators here are about the size of a badger and not very aggressive during the day."

Tess handed him a bottle of water and quickly set up the tent. She then walked toward the river while Erik wandered off over a nearby hill, seeking solitude with his thoughts. Tess watched him disappear behind the rise and quickly stripped, intending to take the chance for bathing and a swim while she had some privacy.

Erik sat down on a massive low flattish gray boulder and twisted the cap off the water bottle to take a sip. A herd of something vaguely swine-like was calmly plucking the bluish-green grass in the distance. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt a warm breeze on his face in the middle of the day. Had he ever? His mother put a mask on him when he was still a baby and he'd not gone outside without one any time he could remember. The wind carried a scent that reminded him of fresh hay. Everything had been so strange the last... day? Two days? He wasn't even sure how much time had passed since he left the opera house. He rubbed at the stone underneath him, running his fingers along the parallel striations etched into the lichen-covered surface.

The passage of time had recently lost all meaning for him, as had pretty much everything else floating about in his memory. His mother, Persia, the opera house, his beautiful Christine… Did all that really ever happen? He was no longer certain of anything. His life had been ripped from under his feet the second he stepped onto that redhead's star-ship. Did any of it really matter, anyway? Did his mother's fear and hatred, Christine's flight and the daroga's betrayal mean anything when there was an entire universe beyond that lonely little rock orbiting the sun?

If he accepted the knowledge of his heritage, did it change anything? He was not of the Earth, not entirely, so did the Earth's rejection of him mean anything? Erik pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, watching the fireworks blossom behind his lids. He pulled in a few gulping breaths of fresh alien air. He could lie to himself, he thought, and pretend that the past meant nothing, but he knew that he would always feel the sting of his mother's rejection. He would always hear Christine's sweet voice and see her face in his sleep. He could travel to the edge of the universe and still never escape the hell of his own memory.

Erik sniffed back a few frustrated tears and opened his eyes. The herd of pig-deer-whatever was moving off to greener pastures, disappearing over the next hill. He was utterly alone, sitting on this broad hilly savannah. The wind and the distant babble of the river were the only sounds to reach his ears. An old song, not one of the operas he'd been so consumed with over recent years, but some sad folk song he'd heard as a child, floated unbidden to the surface of his brain. He began humming lightly, watching the clouds slowly float across the dome of the sky above, and within a few minutes, he was singing it aloud.

Tess was sitting in the silt of the river bottom with only her head exposed above the water's surface. She was completely still, eyes closed and allowing the water to rush past her skin. The wind whistled softly in her ears. She almost didn't notice it when the whistling began to take form into a melody wrapping itself around her consciousness like silk. It was lulling her to sleep and she floated between consciousness and unconsciousness until the logical corner of her mind jolted her awake with the knowledge that she'd drown if she tried to take a nap in the river. She stood up and looked around, wondering if the whole thing had been her imagination. She heard the voice again, and it was no spectre of her mind. She haphazardly dried off and put her clothes back on, following the hypnotic sound over the hill to its source, which was sitting on a large rock beveled off by some ancient ice sheet.

She didn't know what alerted him to her presence but she felt an almost physical pain when he fell silent and turned to stare up at her. She frowned and picked her way down the rock-strewn hill to sit beside him. She tried to think of something intelligent to say to him, but came up with nothing. She settled for saying something blunt and obvious instead.

"You can sing."

"…Yes. Do you?"

Tess laughed at the very suggestion.

"Not in the least. I have no voice for singing. You couldn't pay me to try."

"How unfortunate."

Not that he'd even thought of looking for another pupil in this odd girl, but the knowledge that she couldn't sing at all somewhat disappointed him.

"Well, if everybody could sing like you, it wouldn't be special, would it?"

"I… suppose not."

Tess felt her cheeks warm under a blush. She didn't know why she felt like she'd just opened the door on someone undressing, but she could think of no other way to describe the sensation. She wanted to beg him to sing again, to fill her empty head with that rich voice, but lacked the courage to do so and felt stupid for even wanting to. She'd never begged for anything in her life.

"If you're hungry, I can put together the food I bought earlier. We can eat by the river if you want."

"That sounds like a fine idea."

Tess stood and Erik followed her back to their little camp. They sat on a boulder by the river, Tess trailing her bare feet in the water, and they ate in a tense silence. Tess concentrated on her food and tried to ignore the strange impulse to lean into Erik's side. What was wrong with her today, anyway? She'd been alone for years and she needed no one.


	6. A Lesson in Diplomacy

The sound of night insects penetrated the tent with ease. Their ceaseless chirping and hissing and Erik's even breathing less than a foot away created a steady rhythm. Tess lay staring into the inky blackness trying to sleep. She was exhausted, but slumber eluded her. After eating, she'd returned to the Stardust and did a bit of digging through the Database to track down Oro Ohtamacil's contact information and do a bit of research. He seemed like an amiable enough old man. He was generous to a fault, and Tess had a feeling that a lenient trusting nature was at least partly responsible for his son Ohte's misadventures. Perhaps, though, it could be used to Erik's advantage. The elder son, Erik's uncle Endo, might prove a more troublesome obstacle. The few interviews and articles she found portrayed him as a stern serious man with a strong sense of racial pride and public honor.

She silently hoped that Erik would choose to stay with her instead, but didn't have the heart to attempt to sway him in one direction or another in his decision. It was past midnight when her thoughts finally slowed and she slept.

Unsurprisingly, Erik woke up first and the sound of him washing in the river woke Tess up. She watched him from the safety of the tent, observing the muscles in his shoulders and back flexing as he moved in the cold water. She had to admit that he wasn't particularly attractive in any traditional manner. He was far too thin and the scars that crisscrossed his sallow skin created a patchwork of chaos that reminded her of a black widow's cobweb. His sinewy physical appearance was completely at odds with his graceful cat-like movement, however, and belied an underpinning strength that Tess would not lightly challenge without the advantage of her Ayana exoskeleton. It was a strange and fascinating combination.

The show was soon over as Erik climbed from the water and dressed, moving to sit on the same boulder they'd taken their supper at the previous evening. Tess waited a few minutes before climbing from the tent and feigning that she'd just awoken. She sat down beside him and watched the river flowing past.

"I've got the contact information for your grandfather, if you decide you want to go that route. I can't guarantee any sort of success."

"I wouldn't expect you to."

"Well, good. Because I can't. I can't even guarantee that he'll meet with you. Do you still want to try, or have you not decided yet?"

Erik sighed. He could not envision such a meeting ending well, but he didn't want to spend the rest of his life regretting missing a chance at having the one thing he'd always wanted. He'd have to make a hefty emotional gamble if he wanted a family.

"Does your offer still stand, to teach me your trade, should this little experiment fail?"

"Well, sure. I don't see why it shouldn't."

He'd have somewhere to go if he were cast out of his ancestral home, at least. And after all, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

"Contact him whenever it is convenient. I think I will go for a short walk. I'll return soon."

"Well, alright, but don't go too far."

Erik wandered off over the hill again and Tess headed up into the Stardust to try and track down Oro. She sat in the cockpit and opened communications. She accessed the channels for Erana Prime, and after being summarily disconnected three times, hacked into the back door, piggy-backing on internal signals to mask her own identity. She finally managed to get a real face on her view screen. The female Eranae immediately gave her a suspicious look, clearly not expecting an off-worlder. Tess put on her Serious Face and attempted to be diplomatic.

"Good morning, madam."

"How did you access this channel, off-worlder? It is private!"

Tess laughed lightly.

"I will admit to using… unorthodox means, but my reasons are legitimate. It is imperative that I speak with master Oro Ohtamacil. I bring news that concerns his family."

The secretary's suspicion only grew deeper.

"If you are plotting something—"

"I am plotting nothing! I have simply stumbled upon something that may be of worth to master Ohtamacil. I ask no ransom or reparation, I simply wish to speak to him and arrange a meeting."

"He is resting at the moment. I will enquire whether or not he wishes to speak to you, but I do not believe he will have any interest in your scheme, whatever it is."

The harassed-looking woman disappeared from the screen Tess chewed her lip while she waited a good ten minutes before she reappeared with an aged male following.

"Master Ohtamacil will speak to you briefly."

The woman exited the room again and the old man sat at the view screen.

"State your case quickly, off-worlder. My time is valuable."

Tess bowed her head slightly in deference to the aging patriarch.

"Of course, master. You do not know me, but my name is Tess. I am a Hunter from the Tellurian system and recently made an unexpected visit to my home world. I found there something that may interest your family."

Oro's eyes narrowed at her. He was clearly expecting deception.

"I fail to see what an undeveloped class 3 planet could hold that would be of interest to me."

"Though I am certain you likely have no desire to hear of your son Ohte's many fiascos, he left something behind on the planet you may wish to have returned to your family."

Oro huffed in annoyance.

"Spit it out, child! I do not have all day to play games with you."

"You have a grandson named Erik. His mother was a Tellurian like myself. I found him while pursuing a bounty and took him with me when I left the planet out of fear for his safety and freedom should the authorities discover him. He was born on Telluria Prime and has spent his entire life on its surface, until very recently, but I doubt the authorities would care much of the fact if they ever found him on a class 3 planet."

Oro's expression of anger dissipated into something Tess found difficult to read under the boney plates covering most of the Eranae's face.

"I imagine they would not. You have him with you then? May I see him?"

"He, uh, went for a walk. He has not returned yet. I would like to arrange a personal meeting, though, if you are not too busy. He has no other surviving family and I am certain he would appreciate speaking with you."

Oro's gaze moved to something above the camera in his home which Tess could not see.

"Hm… I suppose I should. Half Tellurian…Endo will not be pleased with this new development..."

Oro's grim face returned to meet Tess's gaze again.

"It will have to be a discreet meeting. I will get clearance for you to dock your ship on the second moon and an entourage will be there to escort you both to my home. You must understand, this could be something of a scandal if the media discovered… What did you say his name was?"

"Erik, master."

"How old is he? Ohte has been in prison for some time now."

"I am not entirely certain. By a Tellurian calendar, I'd guess that he's around thirty-five or forty years, but I am not familiar with how the Eranae mark the passage of time. He is middle-aged for one of my race, but still relatively young for one of yours."

"Yes… We shall see, I suppose. I will send you the clearance codes and you may meet with my servants this afternoon. They will be waiting for you on the second moon in the red docking zone. Dock your ship and wait at the entrance. They will approach you. Good hunting and may the North wind never abandon you."

Tess bowed again.

"May the North wind never abandon you, master."

Tess switched off the communications station and headed back outside to take down the tent and clean up. Erik returned shortly and she waved him over to her.

"I managed to track down Oro. He's agreed to meet with you. I think you may find him a sympathetic character, but you have an uncle, also his business partner, who may be less forgiving of your mixed blood. We'll meet with his people at a docking bay on one of Eranae Prime's moons and travel to the planet's surface from there this afternoon."

"Ah."

Erik walked over to the river. He hadn't been expecting to be faced with this meeting quite so soon. Tess walked up beside him a moment later, looking up at him with concern.

"If it's too soon, I can call on him again and arrange a later time, tell him you're ill or injured or something. It would be a bit rude, but I don't think it would anger him greatly."

"No, no. It would be more than a 'bit' rude. We will go this afternoon as planned. I will simply have to deal with the problem today."

"Problem? I hardly see how meeting your grandfather is a 'problem'. You should be happy to have a grandfather. I'll never see mine again, that's for damn sure."

Erik turned to look at her, scrutinizing her face.

"No… I don't suppose you will. I shall endeavor to act a more grateful."

Tess shook her head at him in confusion.

"Good… You do that. We'd better leave now anyway. It can take hours to get through customs, even with the clearance codes Oro Ohtamacil gave me."

Tess and Erik returned to the Stardust and left the wild planet behind them. It was only a fifteen minute journey through subspace, but as Tess had predicted, they spent hours in orbit around Erana Prime's second moon waiting for clearance. It was nearly two thirty local time before they were allowed to land. Tess grabbed a couple bags while they were waiting and threw clothing in them and a couple bottles of water. She knew they would probably be well taken care of, but she never went anywhere without extra water. You never knew what sort of situation you could end up in. She kept a single blaster tucked in her belt in clear view, but dispensed with the rest. It would not do to be found concealing weaponry. The one blaster would probably be tolerated due to her profession and as Hunters were generally expected to be armed, would allay suspicion of concealed weaponry and save her an unpleasant body cavity search. She tossed the second bag to Erik before dragging him off the Stardust and setting the locking mechanisms behind her.

"We're supposed to meet them by the entrance."

She grabbed Erik's hand and glanced around for signs. They were written only in some Eranaen language she did not recognize and no translations into the common tongue could be found as there were in other regions of the galaxy. The locals obviously did not encourage strangers. Tess shrugged and followed the general flow of the crowd, ignoring the wary stares cast at the two travelers, and eventually they made their way to the front doors of the large complex. One of a group of three Eranae, two male and one female, waiting nearby nodded to the rest of the group and approached Tess and Erik.

"You will follow me to our transport and we will take you to master Ohtamacil on his estate. Do not draw any more attention to yourselves than you already have. Come."

Tess dragged Erik behind her, trailing the taller male Eranae. The other two brought up the back and they wove through the throng to a dock on the highest level of the outpost. They were led inside a small but richly decorated transport, obviously the property of a wealthy owner.

"Sit and we will bring you refreshment. We will arrive at the Ohtamacil estate in half an hour."

Erik did not drop Tess's hand as she had expected him to, but gripped it firmly to the point of almost being painful as his eyes darted around the interior of the craft nervously. The shorter Eranaen male brought two glasses of some bluish beverage and a plate of blandish biscuits and left them on the table before returning to the cockpit with the others.

"Calm down, Erik. You'll accomplish nothing by panicking at this point. It'll work out, I promise you. The worst that will happen is that you'll end up having to stay with me, is that such a horrid proposition?"

Erik turned toward her voice as if he'd forgotten she was there and snatched his hand from hers when he noticed it.

"Horrid? I do not mean to insult you; I do not know where you found that idea."

"Oh never mind. Just calm down. He's not going to boil you for afternoon tea, you know."

Erik took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. He just wasn't a people-person, and not very good at making a positive first impression. He was very good at intimidating new people; he used to be quite good at charming them when he was younger and less jaded, but in this case, neither skill would be especially useful. He longed for his old mask, though he did not know why, surrounded by aliens as he was. He may not be a beauty, but among the creatures he'd seen over the past few days, he was no longer exceptional by any means. _Just another face in the crowd…_

The transport landed on a small private docking area next to a massive mansion built into the side of one of the foothills of a tall mountain range. The three Eranae escorting them led them inside to meet with the family patriarch.


	7. Hello, Goodbye

Their three escorts left them standing in the hallway and it wasn't long before the patriarch arrived with his own attendants in tow. He nodded to both of them. Tess bowed deeply, and elbowed Erik in the ribs to signal that he should do the same.

"Greetings Tess and Erik. I am Oro Ohtamacil, patriarch of the house of Ohtamacil. This meeting is an unexpected surprise for me, though not unpleasant. Please, come sit with me."

The old man's eyes were locked on Erik, who cringed under the tall formidable-looking old Eranae's scrutiny. One of the attendants suddenly pulled a hair from Erik's head as he walked past and found himself on his knees with Erik's lasso around his throat. Erik seemed mildly embarrassed at his actions and loosed the servant immediately.

"I apologize… sir. You startled me."

The Eranae glanced at Oro who gave him a warning look. Oro spoke in his place.

"Your apology is accepted, but I will not tolerate further violence under my roof. He took the sample from you under my orders, to have your genetic makeup compared to Ohte's to confirm your identity as my grandson. It is merely a formality without malicious intent. Now let us retire to the parlor to speak."

Tess gave Erik a cross look as though he were a misbehaving child and grabbed his hand, pulling him along behind Oro. They entered a small but lavishly furnished room and Oro waved off the servants, leaving the three of them alone.

"There now, calm down. Come here, child, and let me have a look at you."

Erik wasn't quite certain whether to be offended at being called a 'child' or not, but the decision was taken from him when Tess planted her fists firmly in the small of his back and shoved him forward. Oro placed his hands on Erik's arms and looked into his eyes for a long moment before scanning over Erik's whole face. Erik began to sweat under the close inspection of the glowing double-pupiled gaze and the fingers still holding his lasso twitched, but Oro didn't seem to notice his discomfort. He pulled Erik's chin to one side, then the other, and ran a palm over the smooth crown of his head before cupping it around the nape of his neck.

"You're rather a bit soft, aren't you? I suppose there's no hope of you growing your plating; you'd have gotten them ages ago if you were going to get them at all. Such thin skin, though. I wonder how Tellurians have managed to survive at all…"

Erik breathed an audible sigh of relief when Oro finally let go of him.

"And what is this nonsense?"

Oro laughed and fingered the tuft of black hair behind his left ear before glancing over at Tess.

"Well, I suppose you must take after your mother then. Well, do sit down."

Erik swallowed against the bile rising in his throat at the notion of resembling his once-beautiful mother in any capacity and sat beside Tess. Tess was tempted to take his hand in hers, but didn't think he'd care for the gesture in the current situation.

"Tess tells me this is the first time you've been off your planet of birth."

"Yes sir."

"I'm afraid I find myself yet again having to apologize for the actions of Ohte. I beg forgiveness on his behalf for his abandonment of you. He has committed many crimes in his life, though perhaps this is the most misfortunate of them. I don't suppose your mother ever said anything of him?"

"No, she did not. In fact she grew rather upset if I asked anything on the subject of my father. Until Tess told me otherwise, I had no reason to suspect I was anything but a Tellurian, albeit a deformed one."

"Oh dear… That is unfortunate. I'm afraid know little of the Tellurian system or its inhabitants, only that Telluria Prime is a class 3 planet."

Tess broke into the conversation to add her two cents.

"It's a fairly primitive backwater. A few nations are undergoing industrialization at the moment but it will be some centuries yet before they join galactic society. Erik has told me little of his personal history, but I doubt the natives were tolerant of him. Most of them are rather superstitious and they do not accept differences very well in general."

Oro looked at Erik, but the younger man conceded no further information on the subject.

"I'm afraid you may not find the Eranae much more accepting. I am embarrassed to admit that most of my peers are quite arrogant in their racial pride."

They were interrupted by a servant who bent to Oro and whispered something. The servant stood up and turned to leave, hesitating a second to tell him offhandedly that the genetic testing gave a positive result.

"Hmph. Well, speak the name of Evil and it appears. My son Endo, your uncle, has arrived. You'd best remain here until I've had time to explain the situation. I must warn you, I doubt he will be pleased with your presence."

Oro left the room and closed the door behind him. Loud footsteps quickly approached the room and stopped outside the door, followed by an angry voice. Tess walked over to listen against the carved wood and Erik soon followed.

"Father, don't tell me what the servants are saying is true. You can't bring some half-breed into our home-"

"That _half-breed_ is my grandson and your nephew, whether you like it or not. His genetic makeup proves it."

"I fail to see how that makes any difference in the slightest. Even were he not some mixed-blooded mongrel, you disinherited Ohte over a two decades ago for a reason! Do you really want to reassociate our family with that murderer? The scandal could ruin us!"

"You exaggerate, Endo. The child never met Ohte anyway, thank the winds. He has no other family and we cannot send him back to Telluria Prime. It is a class 3 world."

"I don't care where you send him, just _get him out of this house_!"

"Endo, stop this! I was forced to disown a son, I will not throw away a grandson simply because of this world's backwards racism!"

"Your involvement in foreign charities has painted you as an eccentric already, and if the media catches wind of you taking in one of your precious off-worlders, the council will not be so tolerant. You'll be deemed a lunatic!"

"Endo, I will not turn out my own flesh and blood again and that is _final_! Do you hear me? I am still the head of this family and you will not second-guess me!"

The door opened again and Oro stepped inside. Erik backed away, suddenly feeling very very naked. Endo glared menacingly from behind his father at Erik.

"You'd best keep your head down, off-worlder. My father may be growing senile in his old age, but I am not so soft-headed. You will not ruin this family's valuable reputation!"

Oro simply slammed the door shut in the younger man's face.

"I apologize for that. Endo's ego and temper often get the better of him. He's a good man at heart, but a bit foolish."

Erik continued to stare at the closed door.

"Perhaps I should leave. I clearly do not belong here."

Erik attempted to step around Oro, but the old man grabbed his arm in a vice-like grip.

"Don't you dare let that old blowhard intimidate you. You belong here as much as he does."

Erik didn't seem convinced and Oro reached over to rub lightly at his throat with his fingers, an odd gesture of affection among the Eranae, being that the throat was one of the few patches of skin they had which was not covered by the distinctive bony armor. Erik backed away from the soft gesture quickly, eliciting a concerned look from the old man.

"I promise you no harm will come to you under this roof, no matter how soft your skin. Endo's temper will cool in time. I think I will keep him away from you for a few days, however."

Oro let go of Erik and turned to Tess.

"I thank you for returning my grandson to me. You are welcome in my home henceforth, should you wish to visit at any time. I simply ask that you contact me beforehand and I will arrange your transportation to the suface. Erik will remain in my care for the time being, so you need not worry for your friend. I'm sure you are normally quite busy as a Hunter and need to be getting back to your chase. I can't say I am comforted by how much the Civilian Security Agency has come to depend on the service of freelancers like yourself, but I'm sure your services have aided in the protection of this galaxy and for that I am grateful. Good hunting and may the North wind never abandon you."

Tess stood and grabbed her bag from the floor. She glanced from Oro to Erik and back.

"May the North wind never abandon you."

She hesitated at the door, looking back to Erik with longing.

"I suppose I'll see you around, Erik. _Au revoir_, I guess... or whatever it is you French types say…"

Tess left the two in the room and servants appeared to escort her back to her ship docked on the moon. She felt a numb shock at being so summarily dismissed and rode the transport back to the moon in dumb silence. Once back on the Stardust, she dropped her bag on the floor and slumped in the cockpit. Everything was completely quiet. She was alone again.

Tess started crying for the first time since becoming a Hunter. She punched in some mostly random coordinates. She piloted the ship away from the moon and out of the inner solar system before disappearing into subspace, leaving Erik lightyears behind her.


	8. Family Feud

Author's note: This chapter contains references to Susan Kay's _Phantom, _but you do not need to have read it to understand the story.

---

Erik watched Tess disappear from the room and, ostensibly, his life, before he had a chance to reply to her goodbyes. He felt an inexplicable desire that he should see her again at some point, though he did not know why. She was plain in appearance and she couldn't sing. Still…

Oro cleared his throat noisily and Erik turned to him. It was difficult to read the fine details of Eranae facial expressions under the plating, but Oro seemed to have regained his good mood.

"If you are especially tired from your journey, I will have one of the servants lead you to your bedroom, but I would like to invite you to join me in the bath house, where I had been planning to spend the afternoon before you were dropped on my doorstep. There are natural hydrothermal springs underneath the estate and the hot mineral water is quite pleasant."

Erik was sorely tempted to request the offered bedroom, though he was not particularly tired. He was going to be living in this house for an unforeseen amount of time, though, and it would do no good to spurn the hospitality of his newfound family. He found himself oddly determined not to give in to his antisocial nature and botch this one last chance at a semi-normal life.

Oro led him through the hallways of his large home and down an outdoor path to a smaller structure. The building was made from some sort of pinkish-yellow marble and the architecture was unusual but not wholly unpleasant (especially after seeing what passed for architecture in large cities) and Erik was tempted to ask about it. Oro pulled him into the bath house before he had a chance. They passed a large communal bath being used by several servants and Erik was slightly appalled to notice that both sexes walked about naked save for their natural plating in front of each other without shame. A couple children were even present. One was an older female child whose plates were still small and soft but rapidly growing in, but the other was a younger male that was still bare-skinned and he had to stop himself from openly staring at what fairly looked like a shorter version of himself. The children, however, didn't seem to mind staring at him, though the servants paid no attention to the passing of their master and his odd guest. Oro noticed his hesitation and put a hand on his back to coax him forward.

"The family has its own private bath this way. You may socialize with the servants some other time, if you wish."

They arrived in a smaller room lit poorly by gas torches set high in the walls. A servant shortly arrived with towels, clean clothing, oils and soaps and laid them on a table against the back wall. Oro walked over to a low bench beside the door and quickly stripped. He walked toward the bath before giving Erik an enquiring look.

"Is there something wrong, child?"

Erik shook his head and walked over to the bench to copy the older man's movements. He all but ran to the water, concealing himself up to the neck as quickly as he could and thanking God for the dim lighting. He could feel the blood rushing into his cheeks at Oro's chuckle.

"You're an odd boy, aren't you? Well, no matter. The hot water will calm you well enough, I suspect."

Oro leaned back against the side of the stone tub that had been cut directly into the limestone bedrock and sighed as thin wisps of steam curled around him. Erik had to admit that the bath was the best he'd ever been in and he was soon lulled nearly to sleep. He was drifting halfway between sleep and waking, letting the sounds of Oro's ablutions go in one ear and out the other and was nearly gone when the light splashing grew closer and a soft cloth began rubbing gently at his neck and chest. The sensation was not unpleasant, but it was unexpected and Erik blinked a few times as consciousness returned. He squinted at Oro in confusion and stilled the movement of the cloth over his collar bone.

"I assure you I am perfectly capable of bathing myself..."

Oro blinked back at him before giving a wry smile and dropping the cloth. His expression turned sorrowful and he leaned back against the stone.

"Yes, of course. Forgive an old man's foolishness. We Eranae have a bad habit of coddling our young ones before their plating hardens… I know you are not a baby, no matter how you look… Well, Ohte always wanted to do things on his own too, I suppose you'll be the same..."

Erik swallowed thickly against the feeling of shame settling in his stomach and slumped down in the water until he was covered up over his chin. He was suddenly ashamed at the knowledge that he was more like Ohte than the old man imagined. Erik shut his eyes and wanted to disappear. He wished he knew how to deal with this old man's strange affection. Even to Erik, it was obvious that Oro was looking to replace his lost son, and apparently saw in Erik a potential candidate.

Erik had no clue whether he should allow the relationship to continue in this odd vein or not. Would it cause more trouble with the man's real son? No matter how desperate he was for a normal family, he could no longer bring himself to help pull someone else's apart. He'd nearly destroyed Christine trying to force her into a role she'd never wanted to begin with, and that dreadful passive blankness of her face after turning the scorpion haunted him still. He'd been forced to let her go and give her back to the Vicomte, if only to see the light of life back in her eyes again just one last time.

Also, even if it could be a harmless arrangement, he'd never really been anyone's child before. His mother had provided him with food and clothing, but he could not remember a time when he wasn't expected to take care of himself. She had always been loathe to touch him in any way, to the point of running from him the one time he'd been foolish enough to try to kiss her. The time he'd spent with the old architect was the closest he'd ever come. The old man had been more a father to him than any one before or since, but their relationship had ever been strained and alienated under Erik's own crippling fears. And then his impudent daughter Luciana came into the picture, and had died, after being frightened by his face (_why, foolish girl did you demand I remove my mask? Why, father, did you demand I comply?_) and falling to her death. Giovanni would not have blamed him for it, but how could he have stayed after that? How could he have faced the pain and disappointment in the eyes of his father? Would he only end up a disappointment to his grandfather as well? He didn't think his tired old heart would bear another rejection and survive.

A hand passed lightly over the crown of his head and he looked up at Oro's concerned face, his strange gentle eyes ever glowing out from the shadows.

"Erik? I am deeply sorry if I have offended you somehow, such was not my intent."

Erik sat up and shook his head.

"No, you have not. I was simply… a bit startled."

Oro considered Erik's answer for several moments.

"You do seem to startle easily. I can't help but feel that someone has been rather cruel to you. Several someones, in fact…"

Erik squirmed under the Eranae's intuition. He was more shrewd than he let on, Erik thought.

"Perhaps it would be best if we dressed and returned to the house. It nearly time for dinner to be served, anyway. You will sit beside me, and do not worry yourself over Endo's prejudices."

Oro rose from the bath and held out a hand for Erik. He hesitated, but eventually took it. Oro passed him a towel and took the other for himself, drying quickly. Erik was drying his face when a finger traced over one of the many scars on his back and he froze like a spotlighted deer. He had been trying to avoid letting Oro see those, but apparently he'd forgotten about them in the midst of his confusing emotions.

"How creatures with such a soft hide manage, I will never know. Even our armorless children have thicker skin."

Erik stepped away from Oro and breathed deeply until the tension in his muscles slowly began to seep out.

"We manage. Damaged skin heals."

"Yes, of course it heals, but it leaves such marks… Well, no matter. The past cannot be undone. Dress and come with me."

Erik dropped the towel on the bench and pulled on the simple blue robe left for him by the servants quickly. His own clothing had been taken somewhere, presumably to be laundered. He fingered the material, finding it to be quite coarse. It was warm and likely comfortable to a thick-skinned and bone-plated Eranae, but it chafed against his shoulders and under his arms and he found himself pulling and scratching at the cloth on the way back to the house. Oro glanced at him from time to time, but said nothing if he found Erik's fidgeting unseemly.

They walked into the dining room and Erik hesitated upon seeing Endo already seated at the far end of the table. Oro guided him forward and set him at the table across from Endo and seated himself at the head of the table. Endo scowled at both Oro and Erik but said nothing. A female Eranae entered the room and sat beside Endo, giving Erik a tentative smile.

"Good evening, Erik. I am Anora. I apologize for my husband's earlier rudeness to you and his own father. I do not know what has gotten into him, he usually gets along quite well with the rest of his _family_."

Anora stressed the last word and gave Endo a pointed look. Endo simply gave her a cross look and turned his attention to Oro.

"Despite my wife's good-natured foolishness, still I must implore you to send that boy away. He will bring us nothing but trouble."

Erik's annoyance grew at being spoken about as though he were not in the room and his hand unconsciously searched for his lasso. He looked down when he did not find it, realizing that it must have been taken along with his clothing. It was probably all for the better, anyway. He doubted Oro's generosity would continue if he strangled his son at the dinner table.

Anora pinched Endo hard between the thumb and fingers, earning a growl from deep in his throat. Oro took the opportunity to intervene.

"That's enough, from the both of you! I will not have discord at my dinner table. If you cannot be civil, you may eat in the kitchen like misbehaving children."

The tension in the room was palpable, but lessened as food was brought. The servants filled four plates and set them before each of them. Erik recognized nothing on his plate, but watched as the others began eating and copied their manners. The food reminded him vaguely of Indian cuisine, being heavily spiced and lacking meat.

"Have you reviewed the Chaga bid yet, Endo?"

"Yes, father. I believe we could get a bit more from them."

"They are a relatively poor outpost, Endo. Their offer is quite reasonable where it stands. We would make an acceptable profit without burdening them greatly."

"You're too generous father. That is not a good trait in a businessman."

"In case you have forgotten, son, I built this family's fortune."

"With your brothers' aid."

"That is beside the point. Their philosophy on the matter was the same as my own. We will accept their current offer."

Endo clearly did not agree with the man's decision, but did not argue further.

"Yes, father. I will close the deal tomorrow."

Their empty plates were removed from the table and small bowls of something cold and sweet were set before them. No spoons were offered, and the Eranae picked the bowls up and drank directly from them. Erik followed suit, finding the drink to taste somewhat like caramel.

Oro stood up after finishing his dessert.

"I will be in the garden for the rest of the evening should any of you wish to join me. Erik, a servant will show you to your bedroom. It is next to mine, should you need anything from me during the night."

Endo turned very cross at that pronouncement.

"You can't give him my sister's room, father! It's bad enough you allow him in our ancestral home at all—"

"Your sister rarely visits anymore Endo, and there are plenty other bedrooms should the need arise. There is no reason not to put Erik there. Honestly, Endo, this primitive territoriality is quite unbecoming of you. Erik will stay there and that is final."

Oro turned to one of the servants and pointed in Erik's direction as he spoke to her.

"Shira, take him to the bedroom next to mine… And see about finding a robe of finer material for him to sleep in. His skin appears to be rather sensitive."

The servant motioned to Erik to follow and he gladly went with her, escaping the burning glare of his uncle.


	9. The Voice of the Winds

Author's note: I'm skipping my physics lab to write this stupid story. It's eating my life. O.o Well, this story started as a Mary Sue parody, but I'm afraid it's warped into something a bit different, though I'm not certain what. Don't worry, though, Tess will reappear soon enough. Well, on with the show!

---

The servant girl led him down several long corridors and showed him into a bedroom. It had obviously belonged to a girl once, still containing a vanity and an ornate feminine wardrobe. The odd bed was more like a nest, being oblong and set into the floor. Erik sat on the chair beside the vanity and pulled off his boots, tossing them into the corner. It wasn't especially late, the sun had just barely dipped below the horizon, but he was exhausted. He glanced around for something else to sleep in and found nothing.

His eyes fell on a bag in the corner. It was the one he'd brought with him, that Tess had handed to him while they were still waiting for clearance to land on Eranae Prime's second moon. He walked over and picked it up. It contained the second change of clothing she'd purchased for him and a bottle of water. Spare and practical, like everything else associated with her.

Erik set the bag down when he heard a knock on the door and opened it to see the same servant girl with another robe. He took it and thanked her, closing the door and changing immediately. The new robe wasn't exactly silken, but it was a definite improvement. There were already mild sore patches developing under his arms and on his ribs from the other robe. He tossed the blue robe over the back of the chair and laid down on the nest-bed, burrowing under the covers. There was no pillow, but the edges of the mattress rose up around the perimeter. He pulled the blanket over his head to block out the waning light from the curtainless windows and it wasn't long before he was asleep.

_His mother was saying something to him, but he couldn't decipher the angry words. Why did her voice sound so muddy? Oh, because his head is underwater. Why is his head underwater? Oh, because mother is holding him down. She is afraid of touching him though, isn't she? Of course she is, that's why it's Giovanni's hand on his back, not mother's. Father, let me up! I can't breath, can't you see I'm choking?_

The water disappeared and Erik bolted upright in bed, beads of sweat dripping down his face. There was still a hand on his back, but it was not holding him down. Erik scrubbed at his eyes and sucked in several deep breaths in rapid succession, trying to still the rapid fluttering of his heart. Oro stood up and disappeared from sight, returning a minute later with a glass of water. He drank about half of it slowly, before Oro spoke to him.

"You said you never met Ohte and your mother never told you of him."

Erik squinted at Oro.

"I didn't. She didn't."

"You were talking in your sleep. You were begging your father to let you up."

Erik picked at the blanket.

"It was just a dream."

"People do not usually dream about strangers and call them father."

Erik chewed the inside of his lip, torn between hiding his checkered past and wanting someone else to know him for once and for all. He shook his head.

"I was not dreaming about Ohte."

"Then who?"

"A man named Giovanni. He was an aging architect I met by accident. He took me in and I lived with him briefly when I was younger. He taught me his trade."

"You were his apprentice then?"

"Yes."

"And he mistreated you?"

Erik seemed horrified at the suggestion.

"No! No, of course not! He was one of gentlest people I've ever encountered, he would never have… Well, he wouldn't have hurt me intentionally at any rate…"

"Then why do you have nightmares about him?"

Erik rubbed at his face with his palms.

"I don't know. I was dreaming about my mother, and she was trying to drown me. Then she became Giovanni."

"You did not get along well with your mother, then?"

Erik laughed at the gross understatement.

"You could say that. She hated me. She was afraid of me. I think she blamed me for destroying her life. Maybe she was right, that I should never have been born. She never left home after I was born. I ran away to free her—"

Erik's stream of self deprecation was cut off as he was suddenly pulled into a tight embrace, his head tucked under Oro's chin in the soft hollow of the old man's throat and Oro's hand wrapped around the back of his skull. Erik tensed up like a scared rabbit and tried to pull away but the unearthly strength of the Eranae held him in place.

"Do not take Ohte's crimes for your own, child. The weight will do you no good."

Erik fought the tears building behind his eyelids, and lost.

"Oh I don't need Ohte's crimes, I have plenty of my own; if you knew half of them, you'd throw me out of your home immediately!"

Oro fell silent at Erik's confession but did not release him. They sat in silence for long minutes while Erik grew increasingly uncomfortable in the alien feel of a close embrace and began to fight Oro's grasp in earnest. Oro finally released him and seemed about to cry himself, through exactly why he would, Erik did not know. There was only one who had ever shed tears on his behalf and those had solely been out of pity.

"The past cannot be undone, child, but the future has not been written. I do not know what dark paths your mother and father abandoned you to, but you are not bound to them. I will not punish you for the crimes of your past, whatever they may be, as long as you do not repeat them. Consider it my first gift to you as my grandson to start your life over with clean parchment."

He reached out to Erik as though to touch his face, but pulled his hand back at the sight of his grandson still shaking like a leaf in the wind. Oro sighed and shook his head in defeat and stood to leave.

"Do try, Erik. That's all I ask of you. I will do all I can to assure you a place in my family, if you desire it. I will not force you to stay if you do not wish to remain in my home, but my doors will always be open to you."

With that, Oro left and closed the door behind him, leaving Erik to swallow back the bile in his throat in the dim moonlight falling through the window. He wrapped his arms around himself trying to calm down and even out his rapid panicked breathing. The last thing he needed was another panic attack. Why did he get so upset at a simple paternal embrace? He'd been madly searching for a real family since he was a young child, now that he had one, why couldn't he deal with it? Maybe he really was as mad as so many had accused him of being.

Erik began to shiver slightly, the sweat on his skin turning cold in the dry air of his bedroom. He laid back down and pulled the blankets up to his chin. He lay there in the dark for what seemed like an age, but no matter how exhausted he was, he could not sleep. He began to sing quietly to himself, desperately trying to soothe himself. It was the same folk song he'd been singing when Tess had interrupted him only a couple days before. He wished he could remember where he'd learned it.

The door suddenly opened again, and Erik leapt to his feet when Endo's face appeared.

"Was that you singing just now, boy? Tell me!"

Erik looked the older man up and down, trying to discern his intentions.

"What does it matter to you if I were?"

Endo glanced behind over his shoulder as if he were expecting to be caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He narrowed his eyes at Erik.

"Do you have any clue how rare and _dangerous_ a voice like yours is? The voice of the Winds, it is called. Maybe once in every ten generations is one born with the gift… Wait here, do not leave this room—"

Endo disappeared and Erik walked to the door to catch a glimpse of Oro's door closing behind Endo. They both emerged a moment later. Oro yawned loudly, clearly having been woken by his son.

"Alright, you've dragged me from my bed, Endo, and disturbed your nephew, what is the problem?"

Endo stared shrewdly at Erik.

"Sing."

Erik sneered at him.

"Why should I? Do you think me a trained ape to perform on command?"

"Father, I tell you, he has the Voice. I heard him earlier. It lured me from my bed like _sorcery_!"

"Endo, you were dreaming. Go back to bed."

"Father—"

"Endo, enough of this nonsense! I don't care if he can move mountains with his voice, it is late and I am a tired old man. We'll discuss this in the morning."

Endo huffed at his father's rebuke and trudged back down the hall. Oro waited until he was out of earshot before turning to Erik.

"Is Endo lying to me, Erik? Were you singing?"

"He was not lying."

"Would you be willing sing again, for me, please? I will not be angry with you no matter what sort of voice you have."

Erik hesitated a moment too long in his indecision and Oro sighed.

"Perhaps this would be better approached in the light of morning. You've had a difficult evening. It will be dawn in a few hours anyway. I think you should sleep in though. I will instruct the servants not wake you for breakfast. You may come to the gardens when you are ready and I will have them bring you something. We can discuss this then. Again, I apologize for Endo. He really has not been himself lately. I do not know what threat he sees in you, but you must have patience with him. He will come around, eventually, if for no other reason than to get back into his wife's good graces. She is more cross with him than I am, I think. Good night, Erik."


	10. Birdhouse in Your Soul

Author's note: VictorianDream – thank you for your kind reviews, I'm glad that one other person at least is enjoying this crazy story as much as I am! I can't stop writing it because I can't stop wanting to know what happens next:P Oh, and just for future reference - a "cannon" is something you use to blow holes in Jack Sparrow's ship. I think the word you're looking for is "canon". ;)

---

Erik woke around midmorning when the sun finally climbed high enough to reach his windows over the mountain ridge on the horizon. He blinked and stared at the ceiling. It took a minute for him to remember where he was, and the memories of the previous evening rushed back to him with the force of a blow to the head. He groaned and rolled over, pulling the blanket over his face. What the hell had he gotten himself into? He should be laying in his mother's bed underneath a Paris opera house right now, preferably dead, and certainly not halfway across the galaxy on another world. There was nothing for it now, though. Despite his constant mantra to himself of the nonexistence of God, he was too much a Catholic to ever kill himself. He didn't have his rope with him anyway.

Since suicide was not an option, he sat up and climbed out of bed, stretching his stiff muscles. He grabbed Tess's bag from the floor and changed into the clothing she'd bought for him. They were indeed quite comfortable, if rather plain. He walked out into the hall intending to head to the gardens to find Oro as he'd been instructed the night before, but realized he had no idea where they were.

He started wandering the halls, noting rooms as he passed them. There were many bedrooms on the same hall as his, and the next turn brought him to a massive library. He turned around and made another turn down a hall in the opposite direction. He nearly ran into Endo. Endo balked at the sight of Erik and quickly ducked into another hallway. Erik was tempted to follow him just for the sake of antagonizing his unhappy uncle, but decided that Oro would not appreciate the added strife in his home. He continued down the hall until he finally ran into a servant who could point him in the direction of the gardens.

He found Oro sitting at a table underneath a large tree with bluish angular leaves intently studying text on a datapad, likely the details of something related to his family's business. Erik stood a few feet away, waiting for Oro to notice him and invite him to sit. Oro did not look up but eventually cleared his throat and spoke to Erik.

"Are you going to stand there all day or sit down and join me? I don't bite, you know."

"I simply did not wish to be rude and interrupt your task."

Oro put the datapad down and leaned back in his chair.

"Well, sit down already! You're not interrupting anything urgent."

Erik sat down next to Oro at the small table and looked at the datapad. He could not read the alien language. Oro cleared his throat again and drew Erik's gaze to his.

"Erik, about last night… I am sorry for Endo's continued rudeness with you but if his claims are true, it could… complicate matters… for you. If you are not careful, that is. Now, he may have just been dreaming the whole thing, but there's a quick way to discover if his accusations are true. I won't force you to do anything you aren't willing to, but I want you to sing for me what you were singing last night."

Erik stared at his hands in his lap. Singing was easy for him. He could use his voice to comfort or destroy as he chose, yet he was gripped with fear to sing before his grandfather, as though his voice had suddenly become a shameful secret. Oro waited while Erik hesitated for over a minute, then heaved a long-suffering sighed. He looked skyward as though seeking advice from the Winds.

"Erik, I am sorry if this distresses you, but I must know. It is important for many reasons, not the least of which is your own safety."

"I apologize, sir. I am not generally called upon to perform by others."

Oro scratched at his throat.

"'Sir'? How formal. Call me 'grandfather', please. That is what I am to you, after all."

"Yes, grandfather."

Erik closed his eyes, trying to block out the bright sunlight. It had been years since he'd stood under its full power and it made his head ache. Was it really so much to ask, after all his grandfather had done for him already? In a single day, the aging man had invited him into his home, his family and, if Erik were honest with himself, likely his heart.

He began the simple folk song again, quietly at first, but eventually at full volume. He opened his eyes to find Oro slumped over the table in a dream-like state with hooded eyes, his jaw slack. The reaction was not new to him; many entered such a condition under the power of his voice. He stopped his song shortly when he heard numerous footsteps approaching. A quick glance at his surroundings revealed many of the servants suddenly halting in their steps and blinking as though waking from a daze. Oro began to stir a moment later. He stood slowly and took Erik's hand into his own, pulling him to his feet.

"Hmmm… Yes. Come, let us discuss this in private."

They walked back toward the house and Oro waved off the servants sharply, telling them sternly to return to their duties and speak nothing of what they heard to another living soul. They eventually made their way to Oro's private study and Oro pulled up a second chair next to his desk so he could sit directly opposite Erik.

"Endo was right, I'm afraid. You have what is known as the Voice of the Winds, Erik. I suspect you already know much of its power. You can draw all but the most stubborn people to you or cast a trance over them or bring them to a state of ecstasy. You've likely also discovered that you can order about the weak-willed with little trouble. This gives you great power, Erik, but power attracts the powerful, and if your gift becomes common knowledge you will be a target for those who would abuse you and your talents. Your gift is a rare one. The last Voice to appear lived about a century ago, and came to no good end. Use your voice wisely. I would not think it advisable to give any more impromptu performances, Erik. I apologize for my earlier indiscretion, but I did not believe Endo could possibly be correct, considering its rarity and your mixed heritage. I do not think the servants will betray us, though. They have proved trustworthy in the past and I have means of convincing them that it is in their best interest to be discreet if the need arises."

Erik squeezed his eyes shut against the pain in his heart. Was he destined to destroy everyone who got too close to him?

"If I am a threat to your family, I should leave—"

"Erik! I told you before that you are a part of my family. Your gift changes nothing! You are still my grandson!"

"Gift? It has ever been a curse. I destroy all that I touch."

"Stop it, Erik. Stop it now! You're beginning to sound like Ohte in his youth and I will not hear it again! Never again! The Voice of the Winds can be used for malicious ends, yes, but you may or may not know that your voice can also expedite healing in the sick and injured, and bring peace to troubled hearts. Like all talents, whether your ability is a gift or a curse is entirely up to how you choose to use it. I should hope you would use it wisely from now on, however you may have employed it in the past."

Erik stood and walked to the window, staring at a small reptile-like creature sitting on its haunches eating a berry on a tree branch.

"So I must hide my voice, then. I was compelled to hide my face –this face that frightened all who saw it- I hid it behind a mask from the day I was born, and now I must hide my voice? Will I never be free?"

Erik cried quietly despite himself. His voice and music had been his one solitary comfort in life, and now he was simply never to sing again? He normally appreciated good irony, but this one was too cruel for him to find any humor in. Oro stood behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder blade.

"Oh Erik, I am sorry. I cannot tell you how sorry I am, but this is how it must be. I only wish for you to be safe. You must be careful. Your voice is beautiful and it carries far. It would be too easy for it to reach unfriendly ears."

"You are right, of course, grandfather. I would not risk your family's safety lightly."

Erik stepped away from Oro and slumped into a chair. If somebody hurt Oro in an attempt to get to him, he'd never forgive himself. The gentle-spirited old man who reminded him so much of Giovanni did not deserve to suffer on his worthless account. He knew he should leave immediately, at least the house, and preferably the planet. He had no idea how to contact Tess or anyone else, though. He wasn't sure if he had the strength to make himself leave this new found refuge anyway.

"The family's safety is my responsibility. I will deal with whatever problems arise from this situation if and when they present themselves. For the time being, I don't want you worrying needlessly over what is beyond your control. Come, it is nearly lunchtime and as you slept through breakfast, I know you are hungry."

Endo was again present at the table before he and Oro arrived. He did not immediately protest Erik's presence again, but glanced warily at him from time to time, trying to avoid Erik's gaze. The servants brought a light meal consisting of some kind of fruit, a type of soft cheese and some bread. Oro chose to ignore the strain between Endo and Erik and proceeded as if nothing were out of the ordinary.

"How did the deal with the Chaga outpost go?"

"As planned. I accepted their bid as you instructed. The shipment will go out this afternoon. They expressed interest in a long-term contract."

Oro smiled. He didn't say "I told you so" but the message to Endo was obvious.

"Did you offer them one?"

"I told them I would speak with you first and give them an answer tonight. Can the Zeon keep up with the supply demand on a monthly basis?"

"I do not know. You ought to send an enquiry as soon as you are finished with your lunch. You may get a response in time to give Chaga an answer before tomorrow if you are lucky. You should not make presumptions about my knowledge, Endo."

"No, of course not. I apologize for my error in judgment."

"You have no need to apologize to me, Endo. The authorities at the Chaga outpost, however, are not likely to be impressed if you cannot keep such a simple promise."

Erik continued to watch the verbal tennis match, mostly keeping his eyes on Endo's tense expression. His staring, however, was not going unnoticed. It was not long before Endo's patience finally snapped.

"Must you continually stare at me with those strange dull eyes of yours, half blood? It's bad enough having a… a… _freak_ under our roof!"

Oro stood instantly, sending his chair clattering to the floor. He loomed over Endo, anger making his eyes shine all the brighter.

"Enough, Endo! I am at my wits' end with you! Apologize to your nephew _now!_"

For once, his father's anger did not cow Endo in the slightest. It seemed only to serve to fuel his ire. He stood toe-to-toe with Oro and matched his father's gaze, despite being several inches shorter.

"I will _not_ apologize to that mongrel off-worlder! It is bad enough that he is a half blood, and that alone could ruin our reputation for good, but that unnatural voice of his is a _threat_ to the safety of us all! He could have us all walking off a cliff in our sleep!"

The sound of the hard slap to Endo's face echoed off the high ceiling.

"Why, Endo? Why do you say these things, that pain me so? Erik has done nothing to offend you, _nothing_! He does not deserve your scorn! You bring shame to this family with your actions today, I am only grateful your wife is not around to witness this!"

Endo seemed to deflate slightly at the violent rebuke and meekly bowed to his father, but the look of pure loathing he gave Erik as he left the room betrayed his lack of true humility. Erik, on the other hand, honestly felt that he should be grateful had the floor opened up and swallowed him at that moment.

"Please, grandfather… Do not fight with your son on my account. I do not want to be the cause of the destruction of your family. He is right, I should leave."

When he looked up, Oro looked like he was about to give him a slap as well.

"It is Endo's arrogance that once again brings discord to my home, not you! Never suggest otherwise again! You will not leave because of Endo's stubbornness. I _will not_ lose another child because of that boy's ignorant words! He drove Ohte away from my nest, and he will not chase you away as well if I have to throw him out myself, and that is _final!_"

With that, Oro stormed out of the room toward the garden, leaving Erik alone to stare in confusion at his unfinished lunch.


	11. Calm Before the Storm

Erik wandered off soon after Oro left, having lost his appetite for the most part. He knew the wise thing to do would be to go back to his room and let the both of them cool off, but an odd sense of unease was settling in his stomach and he soon found himself seeking out Oro's steady presence.

The old man was in the gardens, sitting quietly on the bank of a small creek. Erik slowly walked up to him and sat down beside him. Oro had been obviously been crying, the plates covering his cheekbones still slightly damp. Erik wrapped his arms loosely around his knees and turned his gaze into the creek, feeling extremely uncomfortable at having been the cause, albeit indirectly, of Oro's distress. He didn't even protest when Oro wrapped an arm around his shoulder, pulling him to his into his chest. The embrace wasn't as suffocating as the one of the previous night, but Erik still tensed up under it.

"I am sorry, Erik. I do not know what to do with Endo. I have always known his attitudes toward other races, but rarely is he so vocal about them. I had hoped your shared blood would mean something to him, but clearly I was mistaken. Promise me you won't let him run you off."

Erik didn't reply and Oro's grip tightened.

"Erik—Promise me that if you leave, it won't be because of Endo. I've just found my grandson and I do not want to lose him as I lost my son, please promise me!"

Erik swallowed and nodded his assent, mumbling in the positive. Oro relaxed and began rubbing his back gently.

"Thank you… I don't think my old heart could take losing another child. I shouldn't have lost the first, you know? I was an old fool even back then. Ohte and Endo never got along much, really. Endo had been quite a bold youth but Ohte was always rather sensitive… Endo's teasing was intended to be good-natured, I believe, but I don't think Ohte ever understood. He took their presumed rivalry as a deadly serious thing and Endo never realized what he was cultivating in his younger brother… Ohte got involved with a smuggling ring soon after I allowed them a part in the family's business. When he was caught, Endo would not forgive him for damaging the family's reputation, even after he spent his five years in prison… Ripped into him every time he laid eyes on his younger brother, much as he's been doing to you, and I never did anything to put an end to it. I thought that they were old enough to sort out their own differences. I should have intervened! But it is too late for that now, Ohte left home soon after and I did not see him again until his trial. Such awful crimes… He was not evil, not to begin with anyway. Just hurt I think, and angry, so very angry…"

Erik was unsettled by how closely Ohte's description matched his own, but found himself suddenly pitying the old fool. The plates on the old man's chest dug into his ribs slightly, but he began to relax into the embrace anyway, leaning his head against Oro's shoulder. It wouldn't hurt him any to indulge Oro a bit, after all. He was obviously in pain. That, at least, was something Erik could understand, all too well. He also recognized the man's inability to prevent his children from destroying each other. Giovanni's failure with Luciana and himself was much the same, really. In both cases, the father was undone by his own gentle nature and the children were allowed to suffer for their own wicked stupidity. It was another of the cruel ironies that seemed to follow Erik wherever he went.

Indeed, this alien's resemblance to Giovanni was uncanny in many ways. Erik wondered how two creatures born on opposite sides of the galaxy could be of the same mind in so many things. Giovanni had likely passed on some time ago, though, considering his advancing years when Erik had met him. He had no idea how old Oro was, or even how long Eranae were expected to live. He shuddered at the thought of Oro's death. Oro let go of him.

"Are you cold, Erik? Perhaps we should go inside."

"No, just… Someone must have walked over my grave, that is all."

"Walked over.. your grave?"

"A Tellurian figure of speech. Never mind."

"Ah… You must tell me about your mother's planet sometime, I think. Perhaps not now though. It is getting a bit cold. Let us return."

The day had started out bright, but clouds were thickening in the sky and brought a chill wind with them. It was starting to look like rain. Oro left toward the house and Erik eventually followed, trailing Oro all the way back to his study. Oro seemed surprised when he noticed Erik had followed him the whole way, but not unpleased.

"Sit down if you want. I have some accounts to look over, but you are welcome to stay. There are books on the shelf you might like."

"I don't know how to read your language."

"You don't? Well, I don't suppose you would. I should teach you then. Perhaps we can begin after I finish my work..."

Erik sat down on a small couch in the corner of the study while Oro went through datapad after datapad. It wasn't long before he was asleep. Oro pulled the blanket that was folded over the back of the couch, tossed it over Erik and returned to his work. It was nearly dinnertime before he finally finished going through the accounts. Business had been slow for a few months but was starting to kick up again, and he had a feeling that the long-term contract that Endo had arranged under his instruction would prove to be lucrative in the long run, despite his son's skepticism.

He shook Erik awake and led him into the dining room. Endo was absent. He stopped one of the servants and asked after his son's whereabouts.

"He left earlier this afternoon, sir. He said he had some business to attend to in the Delta quadrant and would not be back for several days."

"Hm. Typical. Well, at least there will be some peace and quiet in the house for a while."

Oro was surprised to see Anora walk in and sit down a minute later.

"You did not go with Endo?"

"No, I have had my fill of his petulant moods and childish behavior. Some time alone will do him good. Perhaps he will be a bit more civilized when he returns."

Oro had is doubts but did not voice them. Their dinner was brought to them and Erik ate with relish, having missed breakfast and half of his lunch. Oro seemed pleased at his renewed appetite.

"There's plenty more if you want it, Erik. When you are finished with your dinner, meet me in my study and I will begin your lessons."

"What are you teaching him, Oro?"

"He has not been taught to read our language, Anora. I intend to rectify the situation."

"No, I suppose he would not have been educated, being on such a backwards world."

Erik rankled slightly at the use of the term "backwards", wondering why he suddenly cared enough to defend the world that had so completely rejected him.

"It's not _backwards_, madam, simply young. And I was educated quite well in many areas."

"You may call me Aunt Anora, dear. And I apologize if I have offended you. Why don't you tell me of your natal world? I don't believe I am familiar with that region of the galaxy."

Erik found himself at a loss for words. What could he say that wouldn't paint the Earth exactly as 'backwards'? He shrugged and looked to Oro.

"I don't believe his memories of his homeworld are especially positive, Anora. Perhaps he will tell us some other time, when he is a bit further removed from the experience. Well, I think I will retire to my study for the moment. I will see you in a little while, Erik. There is no rush, so eat as much as you like."

Oro excused himself and left. Anora gave Erik an earnest but uncomfortable smile and returned to her dinner. She finished and left soon after Oro, but Erik ended up eating two extra helpings of everything, wondering at his own appetite. He rarely had much of one most of the time, and often had to force himself to remember to eat, lest he become ill. He eventually left the table and headed to Oro's study, somewhat relieved at not having to worry about running into his uncle. The man's absence itself left a slight paranoia in the back of his mind, but he shoved the feeling aside. He could do nothing at the present even if the man were plotting against him.

Oro waved him inside and pulled a chair next to his for Erik to sit in. Several thin books were stacked on the desk, all colorful storybooks obviously meant for young children.

"This might be a bit difficult. The translator implants that are so common these days have made the learning of second languages something of a lost art. It's a shame, really, as they are quite useless for the printed word."

Oro pushed the books aside and opened a drawer in the desk, pulling out paper and a few graphite pencils. He used a knife to pare the pencil leads into points and turned two leaves of the paper sideways, setting them side-by-side across the desk. He wrote out an unfamiliar syllabary across the top and turned to Erik. He pointed to each character in succession, reading them aloud. There were over seventy of them in all. He went over the first fifteen again several times while Erik listened silently.

"I do not expect you to memorize all of these tonight, but the first fifteen by tomorrow morning should be reasonable. I will leave you to copy them. Just fill a column beneath each, and say them aloud as you write. We will work on these for the next few days. Once you have syllables memorized, I will begin teaching you to speak and read the North Continent Eranae language."

Oro stood and left Erik to his work, which he completed swiftly. The characters were simple but curved and elegant, and he found himself preferring them over his Roman alphabet quickly.

The next two weeks passed quietly and peacefully in the Ohtamacil home. Oro continued his lessons with Erik when he was not tending the family business and by the end of the second week Erik was able to read most of the simple children's stories. Oro was obviously distracted by Endo's prolonged absence but Erik could not bring himself to worry for the arrogant man's safety. Indeed, he was quite pleased to have Oro to himself for the time being. It was like living with Giovanni again, before Luciana had returned from boarding school and wrecked his home. For only the second time in his entire life, he almost felt like he belonged somewhere and did not look forward to the return of his overbearing uncle.


	12. Interludes

The servants had been told quite firmly to keep their mouths shut about their master's strange visitor and his wondrous voice, but young Eranae women are about as discreet as their human counterparts. That is to say, not much at all. It wasn't two days before the rumors began to spread like wildfire.

Shira was quite pleased with her newfound popularity among her peers at the youth club she frequented on her time off. Since the second she had mentioned him the day before, they pumped her for more information regarding the new resident of the Ohtamacil household whenever she appeared.

"He's very odd, you know. He's only half Eranae, I think, if that much. Jeesha says he is old Ohtamacil's grandson, but I don't see how that is possible. He looks nothing like the old man at all, or anyone else I've seen for that matter. I don't know what Ohtamacil wants him for."

"What does he look like? A monster?"

Shira practically squealed with laughter.

"Hardly! He looks an overgrown baby! He's tall enough, that's for certain, but he has no plates!"

"None at all?"

"No! And you should have heard Oro going on about how soft and thin his skin is in the bathhouse!"

"Do you think that Oro is… with him… you know? Oh I can't even say it!"

They all laughed at the indecency of the suggestion.

"I doubt it, unless the Ohtamacil really has finally lost his mind. The man is hardly attractive at all. His eyes are dull and his pupils are round like a single circle. And he has these weird bits of fur on his forehead and behind his ears."

"Well you never know, old men go senile sometimes. Or maybe he just has a fetish for children."

"That's possible, I suppose, though I've never seen him bother any children. Oh, then there is the possibility that the stranger is the one doing the seducing, he has— Oh I can't say! I've been forbidden to speak of it!"

"Tell us!"

"Oh yes, you must tell us!"

"Well, do you all promise not to breath a single word of this to another living soul?"

"Yes!"

"Of course!"

"You can trust us, Shira, we're you're friends!"

"Well, okay. I'll tell you— He has the Voice! The Voice of the Winds!"

"You're totally lying!"

"I am not! I was carrying some towels to the bathhouse and I heard him out in the garden, singing to the old man. It was as though I were a fish caught on a line, I just walked straight toward him like in a dream! I couldn't stop myself!"

The girls all gasped and looked at each other conspiratorially while they pretended to console their friend. This new juicy tidbit of gossip was much too good to allow it to go to waste.

---

It had been over half a month since Tess left Erik on Erana Prime. She'd spent barely more than two days with the man, and yet slipping back into her old routine proved more difficult than she'd anticipated. She'd felt off-kilter since leaving Erana Prime's second moon and by the end of the first week she'd simply resigned herself to the fact that she wouldn't be able to simply ignore the dull pain brought by her isolation anymore. This was not for a lack of trying, though. She chased down her prey and collected her bounties as she had for years, spent the odd day or two watching the goings and comings of her Hunter peers in dilapidated lawless outposts, and occasionally slept under the stars on a wild world. The galaxy was once again her playground, but it no longer brought her any sense of freedom. It was vast as ever, but now felt like a cage to her, or, perhaps more properly, a glass fishbowl.

She was in one of the lawless outposts at the moment, sitting at the bar with a mug of some bitter-tasting brew before her while Hunters, smugglers, assassins, and all manner of unsavory characters milled around her. A small young woman like her would not normally dare enter such a place, but her Ayana armor and openly displayed blasters ensured that she would remain undisturbed by all but the most foolhardy. She had never really developed a taste for alcohol but lately she'd learned to ignore the unpleasant sting it brought to her sinuses in order to bask in its numbing effects.

She wiped sullenly at the tears slipping down her face and gave a threatening glare that would peel paint from the walls to any who dared look at her. She couldn't deny it any longer. As much as she knew he deserved to have his family, she wanted her strange looking foundling back.

---

Endo sighed and dropped the datapad on the table next to the bed in his hotel room. He'd come out here halfway across the galaxy under the guise of renegotiating an out of date contract with one of his family's oldest clients. While it was a task that needed to be done, the fact of the matter was that he simply could not spend another day in his father's home. He could not simply sit in the room with that abomination while his father fawned over it like an infant. How could Oro just allow the accursed offspring of Ohte waltz into their home to stay? Even had it not been a half-breed, nothing that his worthless foolish younger brother had put a hand in came out uncorrupted.

His greatest fear beyond the immediate effects of having such a parasite living with his father was that the rest of the world would discover the shameful secret. Their reputation had been severely damaged when Ohte's dealings with the Hari Anuma were exposed. They lost over half of their clients in the space of a month, all of them fearing any association with the dangerous and ancient crime ring. His father was a soft-hearted man, though, and the day after Ohte was released from prison, Oro invited the traitor back into their home, all past sins forgiven. Endo had been incensed. He, Endo, had worked so hard to improve the family's business, and he knew Oro had poured his life and soul into it, and then to forgive Ohte after he nearly destroyed everything with his foolishness?

Ohte's whelp seemed harmless enough at first, and he'd almost resolved to drop the issue as simply another one of Oro's eccentricities. After all, it wouldn't hurt the old man to keep a pet.

Then he'd heard the half blood's voice. That damnably beautiful voice! It had lured him from his bed as though he were being called by the Winds themselves, an unbreakable imperative. The singing had stopped when he opened the half blood's door and the pain in his heart at its absence had nearly torn him in two.

He had wanted both to run away and to kill the insolent brat at the same time. How could a half blood bastard hold the greatest gift of the Eranae, a gift that appeared maybe once a century at the absolute most? It was a thing shrouded in myth reaching back to ancient times. In earlier eras, it would have brought worship and fame to its bearer. In recent times, it almost universally brought corruption and ruin. The whelp's mere presence was a very real threat to the safety of his family. Why could his father not see this?

Endo stood up and stretched his sore joints, leaving his room and locking it behind him. He walked to a nearby pub to have dinner and calm his nerves with something to drink. He sat at the bar and watched the news headlines of the day floating across the holoscreen being projected from the ceiling. He paid no attention at first to the large man who sat beside him until he cleared his throat loudly in Endo's ear.

"You are Endo Ohtamacil, am I correct?"

Endo blinked at the tall man.

"Yes, I am. Do you have some business you wish to discuss?"

"Oh yes, most certainly, master Ohtamacil. I have a transaction I wish to negotiate. Perhaps you would like to join me at my table and discuss the matter?"

Endo's gut instincts told him that this man intended ill, but he brushed the feeling off as paranoia borne of stress. He followed the man to a table in a back corner of the pub where two others were already seated, taking the fourth seat and waiting for the man to speak.

"I am Sota Enaga. My associates here and I would like to discuss a purchase. It has come to our attention that you have recently come into the possession of something quite rare and valuable."

Endo had a sinking feeling that they were not talking about trading goods at all, but had something far more sinister in mind. He started to get up, but a strong hand clamped down on his forearm, holding him in place.

"I am not certain of what you speak, master Enaga, you surely have mistaken me for someone else."

"Oh no, master Ohtamacil, we most certainly have not. It has come to the ears of my superiors that Ohte left something behind before he was locked away, and little Hunter found it and returned it to you. Had she known what was in her possession, you most certainly would never have seen it. Lucky for us she did not, then, hm?"

Endo laughed nervously, beginning to panic. Damn Ohte! Would he never be free of his brother's shadow?

"We are prepared to pay you handsomely for the creature. If you are worried for its health, I assure you it will be well cared for and put to good use. We will not trouble your family again once the transaction is completed."

Endo gulped as this new develoment flapped around his brain like a trapped bee. He should accept this offer. After all, would it not be killing two birds with one stone? He would end his worry about his family's reputation being sullied and he would be pulling that parasite from his father's breast all in one move. Then why did every fiber of his being scream at him that he was about to commit a crime beyond any his brother had committed? It didn't matter, though, as the choice was immediately taken from him.

"You do realize, master Ohtamacil, that we will take what we want whether you cooperate with us or not. The choice before you is whether or not you want to do this the easy way or the hard way. It matters not to us. Just know this: you can help us and turn a large profit, or bring retribution upon your family and have your prize stripped from you anyway."

Endo pushed the image of his father's grief to the back of his mind and steeled himself. Oro would be upset at first, but he would soon forget the half blood and all this unpleasantness could be put behind them. Life would return to normal.

"I will do whatever you require."

Sota Enaga's simpering smile turned into a predatory grin.

"Good, good. So glad we could do business with you. You have made a very wise decision, friend. You won't regret this."


	13. The Storm Descends

Author's Note: VictoriaDream – Endo isn't _evil_. He's _weak_. There's a whole world of difference.

---

Endo returned home the next day with a heavy heart but went to great lengths to hide it. He smiled to his father and returned Oro's embrace before bowing and apologizing for his previous behavior. He repeated his apology for Erik, much to the surprise of the entire household.

"Thank you Endo. Perhaps some peace will return to this home now. Let us go take lunch together."

They went to the lunch room where Anora was already waiting. She gave Endo a pointed look and he smiled back at her nervously.

"You can indulge your husband once again, Anora. He has apologized and made amends. Now let us put all of this behind us."

Food was brought and they began eating, but a tense silence remained despite Oro's optimism.

"How was your trip, Endo? Productive?"

"I've renegotiated the Miran contract to take into account recent changes in currency value. They seemed pleased with the results."

"Good, good. They were my first large account, you know. I've known the family for years. Did you have a chance to speak to Stannah? He must be getting rather old now."

"Yes. His health is not what it once was, but he seems pleased with life, overall."

"That's good to hear. I've been busy while you were away as well. I've been teaching your nephew our language. He's a quick study."

Endo gulped and forced a smile.

"How nice… Perhaps you can find employment for him somewhere."

"That's a possibility. He was trained as an architect on his natal world, weren't you, Erik?"

"Yes, grandfather. I completed a few commissions as well. A palace, and a… large theater, as well as a few smaller projects."

Endo raised an eyebrow at that.

"A palace? You designed a palace? Well, I suppose it would have been for some barbarian king, couldn't have been much of one."

Erik scowled at Endo.

"It was about eight times the size of this home, and quite complicated—full of secret passages and trap doors. You could have gotten lost inside it forever!"

Endo scoffed.

"How horrid. I should hardly see how building massive death traps warrants any sort of pride."

Oro glared at both of them.

"Be civil, both of you! If the king commissions a death trap, you build a death trap! At least, I assume it was the king's request?"

He looked at Erik hopefully, clearly praying that it was.

"Yes. My original design did not include them."

"See Endo? It's hardly his fault!"

Endo rolled his eyes and took a large bite of bread.

"You should be proud to have such a talented nephew. I am quite pleased to have him as my grandson, you know!"

Endo swallowed the half-chewed bread and it stuck in his throat on the way down. He glanced at the clock and back at his grandfather. The man had no clue what was about to befall his home. Oh how he wished he had never gone to the Delta quadrant! He would never speak another ill word of the worthless half blood, if only he could change his decision to visit the thrice-damned Delta quadrant!

"Are you feeling well, Endo? You look a bit ill."

Endo swallowed again, pushing the lump of bread to his stomach.

"I'm fine, father. Just a bit tired from my journey."

He could make an excuse and walk out. He could leave the room now and not witness the oncoming storm. Sweat beaded on the side of his head, running down the furrow of skin between the plates on his face.

"I think I will go rest for a while, father. Good afternoon, Erik."

He stood and turned to leave when Anora took his hand.

"Are you certain you are well, my love? You've gone all pale…"

Endo gave the clock on the wall another furtive glance and pulled his hand sharply from Anora's as panic set in.

"I just need rest!"

He made a beeline for the door and bolted through it. Halfway down the hall he ran into one of the Hari Anuma. It was Enaga.

"Going somewhere, master Ohtamacil? You'll miss the show! Do join us in _your_ moment of triumph!"

Endo's eyes darted about the hall for an exit, but he found none. His heart beat madly in his chest as the mobster turned him around and pushed him back to the dining room, opening the door around him and pushing him inside.

Oro looked up at his re-entry, giving him a questioning smile.

"Did you change your mind, Endo?"

Oro's smile fell to a look of confusion as Endo was shoved roughly further into the room and the mobster appeared behind him. Oro stood up immediately and stepped forward around his family.

"Who is this man, Endo?"

Endo did not get a chance to answer as he was pushed aside.

"Good day, master Ohtamacil. I take it your son has not informed you of today's plans? Pity. He was such a great help to us in arranging this profitable venture. Come out!"

At his shout, another Hari Anuma appeared in the opposite door and several more came crashing through the windows. Oro spun around, taking in the invasion of his home. His confusion gave way quickly to a rage that had even Erik slightly frightened. His eyes burned as he turned on his son, who cowered in the corner of the room.

"Endo! What is the meaning of this! _What have you done?_"

"I'm sorry father—I had no choice, they gave me no choice! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I… I…"

The men approached and Erik leapt to his feet to face them. He did not have his lasso any longer, but he was not about to go down without a fight. One came at him, and then another, the first from the front and the other from the side. He leaned back and kicked hard at the first, aiming the blow at the Eranae's soft throat, taking dark pleasure in the feel of the larynx shattering under his heel. The Eranae gurgled and choked and fell to his knees as blood poured from his mouth, but Erik did not have time to appreciate the sight as the second was on him almost immediately. Anora screamed.

His elbow caught the second in the forehead, but the natural armor did not give way and it barely fazed the man. Erik swung his hips around to deliver another kick when something small and sharp stung him in the neck. The momentum of his turn carried him to the floor, land flat on his belly as the drug rapidly took hold of his senses and his world went black.

Oro grabbed the man who had leaned over to pick Erik up and literally threw him across the room where he impacted the wall head-first. Two Eranae came up behind and grabbed his arms, twisting them sharply behind his back, jerking his arms out of their sockets. Sota Enaga walked up and spit in his face.

"Forget it old man. You waste your strength."

A hard fist to his temple left him out cold on the floor beside his motionless grandson.

Enaga kicked Erik in the ribs and, getting no response, motioned to his remaining accomplices.

"Get him out of here."

He pointed toward the dead Eranae.

"Grab that too, we'll toss in the incinerator it later."

He walked over to where Endo was still plastered against the wall with his mouth agape in horror and pulled a bag from his belt, waving it in front of the shocked coward's face.

"Here's your downpayment. The rest will be in your personal bank account by this evening. A _pleasure_ doing business with you. Have a nice day."

He bowed to Anora, who was still frozen in her seat.

"Good day, madam. I apologize for spoiling your lunch."

With that, he and the rest disappeared from the room, taking Erik with them. As soon as they were gone, Anora rushed to Oro's side, kneeling on the floor to check his pulse and dab at the blood oozing from the exposed skin behind his right eye. She looked up at Endo, who was still in shock.

"Endo, call a doctor."

He didn't respond.

"Endo, the Winds damn you, _call a doctor!_"

Endo jumped as though he'd been burned and fled from the room. A few minutes later he returned to the room and resumed his position in the corner as a medical team walked in.


	14. The Hunter Returns

Endo sat in the corner of the dining room with his knees pulled to his chest like a lost child. The analogy wasn't too far from the truth either; he felt fully and well lost. If his father did not kill him on sight, he would count himself blessed. The burning rage in his father's normally warm and gentle eyes was flash-burned on the surface of his mind. If he lived a thousand years, he would never expunge the image.

The medics leaned over his father while Anora watched with silent tears. The medics coaxed Oro's arms back into their sockets while he was still unconscious and closed the wound on his head before reviving him. They gave him medication for the concussion and quickly packed up and left. Endo buried his face in his arms and tried to be as small as possible, hoping Oro would not see him.

He had no such luck.

"Endo! Get out of that corner you coward, and stand up like a man!"

Endo swallowed a sob and stood. Anora's face showed anger and disappointment as well, but nothing burned him like the fire still in his father's gaze. He walked over to his father like a condemned man and stood before him with his eyes downcast. He started to bow when a hand clamped on the back of his neck and forced his forehead to the table, holding him there. He did not resist the force.

"I want to break your neck, Endo. I want to _break your neck, the Winds damn you_!"

Oro's voice cracked at the end and Endo soon felt something warm and wet hit the skin between the plates on his skull.

"I have never in my life wished to harm one of my children, not even Ohte after all of his crimes! I could kill you now, Endo, would I not regret it later! Why, Endo? _Why?_"

Oro suddenly loosed Endo and backed away from him as though he were something poisonous. Endo collapsed onto the floor, kneeling at Oro's feet. Oro continued to step backwards, retreating from his son.

"Leave me, Endo. Take your wife and leave this house before I do something I will regret to the end of my days."

Endo hesitated and began to rise slowly, meeting his father's gaze through upturned eyes blurred by tears.

"Please, father, I didn't mean to let this happen, I didn't—"

"_Go!_ Endo, _get out of my sight!_"

Anora rushed over and pulled her husband to his feet, half-dragging him to the door. Endo broke into a full run as he heard his father's monstrous howl of grief and rage shaking the walls behind him, rushing out of the house while his wife struggled to keep up with his frantic pace. He did not slow down until he reached the family's ships, darting into a small transport. He collapsed to the floor and clamped his eyes shut until he heard Anora step into the vessel behind him and close the doors. Her footsteps stopped right in front of him but she did not touch him.

"You've really done it this time, Endo. You just had to get rid of that boy, didn't you? He brought the life back into your aging father's eyes, and you go sell him out! Well, I hope you're satisfied. If Oro ever forgives you, it will be nothing less than a miracle. Were I him, I'd have you stripped of your inheritance!"

Anora went over to the controls of the ship and engaged the engines, carefully piloting it away from Erana Prime.

"I think we'd best avoid your family for the time being. Your youngest brother and sisters will hear of it soon enough, no doubt."

She set the coordinates for another Eranae colony in a neighboring star system where her sister lived.

"I think we'll go stay with Rema for a while. I haven't seen my niece since the year before last, she must be close to finishing her basic schooling by now."

The trip was entirely too short for Endo's taste; they arrived at the colony in only fifteen minutes of subspace travel. He followed Anora to his sister-in-law's home like a zombie, staring at the back of his wife's head the whole way and constantly tripping over his own feet. Rema's greeting to Anora floated through his head like mist. He barely heard anything.

"Anora! What a surprise to see you, we did not receive word that you were coming."

"I'm sorry for the imposition, Rema, but there's been a bit of trouble and we need to stay with you for a while."

"Trouble? Well, certainly, do come in, tell me what is wrong."

Anora grabbed Endo's arm and dragged him through the door. She unloaded him into a chair in the corner like a piece of luggage and followed her sister into the kitchen.

"What's wrong, sister?"

"Endo's thick head, Rema, that's what's wrong! He's gone off and done something very stupid this time. His father may never forgive him."

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Anora sighed deeply.

"Just let us stay for a while. It might be some time before Endo can approach Oro again without risking his neck."

"Well, of course. You can stay in the guest bedroom as always. Ani will be glad to see you, I'm sure. She's graduating in a month, you know, then off to university somewhere. Children do grow up so quickly. It's a shame you never had any."

"Yes, I suppose, but you know Endo. He doesn't have the patience to properly raise children. And after this recent episode, I'm doubting he has the required brains as well. I'm too old for that sort of thing now anyway."

Endo leaned his head back against the chair and ignored the hot tears slipping down to his neck. His life had become a nightmare overnight. Why had this happened? Why did that half blood just show up on his doorstep and destroy his world in the space of little over a fortnight? Damn that Hunter who brought him, damn—the Hunter!

Endo's eyes snapped open and he sat up. The Hunter! She started this mess, why shouldn't she be the one to clean it up? Tess, her name was. He was familiar with the name. She was quite well known among the Hunters, one of the few who made use of the formidable but expensive Ayana armor and considered to be quite skilled as a tracker. He didn't know how to contact her directly, but he knew enough less than legitimate business men to find out quickly. Endo stood up and bolted into the kitchen where his wife and her sister were catching up.

"Rema, may I borrow your communications center?"

"Well, certainly—What do you need it for?"

Anora eyed her husband skeptically.

"What are you plotting, Endo? You'd better not dig your grave any deeper, or you might not be able to crawl out."

Endo rolled his eyes at his wife.

"Nothing of the sort, love. I may in fact have a viable solution to our current situation."

Anora did not seem convinced, but Endo was too excited in his newfound hope to care. He dashed up the stairs to the communications console in the study and punched in the codes for an old associate.

"Endo! What the devil are you calling about?"

"I'm calling in that favor, Anden. I need you to contact a Hunter for me. One by the name of Tess."

Anden rubbed at his jaw and considered the request.

"Well, that shouldn't be too difficult. I know a guy who knows a guy who has the codes needed for contacting her ship directly. They won't come cheap though."

"I don't care, Anden. Name your price."

---

Tess's ship was seated in orbit around a lifeless moon while she slept in the cockpit. She'd drank too much earlier and was in no condition to go hunting and was determined to sleep it off. The beeping of her communications console jarred her awake and she groaned at the pain in her head. She squinted at the blinking light and rubbed at her eyes until the fuzz receded and punched the button. An Eranae she did not recognize was on the other end.

"Uh, hello. Who the hell gave you my codes? Please tell me so I can go kill him."

"Are you Tess?"

"What? Yes, of course, who the hell were you expecting?"

The Eranae shook his head impatiently and ignored Tess's sarcasm.

"I am Endo Ohtamacil, son of Oro Ohtamacil… Uncle of Erik Ohtamacil, with whom I believe you are acquainted."

Tess blinked at the formal introduction.

"Yea… So what of it?"

"I… _We_ need your help."

Tess sniffed and waited. Endo hesitated.

"Well spit it out, Endo Ohtamacil, relative of nearly everyone. I don't have all damn day and my head hurts."

Endo gulped and Tess rolled her eyes.

"Erik… has been kidnapped by the Hari Anuma. My father is completely distraught. I'm afraid he might do something... drastic, if Erik is not retrieved quickly. Name your price, I'll pay anything."

Tess's heart dropped to the general vicinity of her knees.

"Erik was kidnapped… by the Hari Anuma. Erik was _kidnapped._ By the Hari-flipping-Anuma! How in_ hell_ did that happen?"

Endo did not answer her question.

"Please help us, I implore you. He possesses a gift known as the Voice of the Winds. It could be very dangerous if put the uses the Hari Anuma are likely to, and Erik will no doubt suffer greatly under their hands."

"Well of course I'll help, you moron! I'll do it for free! Do you know where they've taken him?"

Endo glanced over his shoulder, though Tess could not tell at what.

"I don't know. They have bases all over the galaxy."

"Shit… Don't worry, I'll track him down. Give me an hour to stock up a few things, then I'll meet you… wherever you. Where are you, by the way?"

"The Eranae colony in the Chal system."

"Fine, send me the coordinates."

Tess waited for the information to download and then closed the communications channel.

Erik was in trouble. Her foundling had gone and gotten himself kidnapped by some of the worst bastards in the known universe.

She could find him, but she might be killed in the process. Could she live with herself if she didn't even try?

And since when did she give a rip about anyone else? Tess had been on her own for years now. She didn't care about anything. She couldn't care about anything.

Yet the thought of Erik bound somewhere and under the power of the Hari Anuma made her want to rip her own heart out. She'd find him if it killed her.


	15. Gentille aloutte, je te plumerait

The first thing Erik remembered was fighting the Eranae. Or was that a dream? No, the feel of a throat under his heel was too sharp to have been imagined. He'd definitely killed one of them. Pity he had not killed them all. If only he'd still had his lasso! It had disappeared when his clothing had been taken to be laundered on that first night. One of the servants must have stolen it, or more likely Oro had ordered them to dispose of it in his gentle foolishness. The spot on his neck where the dart had hit him itched slightly.

He had awoken some indeterminable amount of time later to find himself bound hand and foot, naked and stretched out on a steeply inclined table in a seemingly windowless room. His head was tied down as well by a strap over his forehead and he could only see part of the room. His throat was dry and parched, but there was no water he could see, even if he could have reached it. Suddenly one of the Eranae he recognized from the attack on his home appeared in his peripheral vision.

"Ah, the mongrel awakes! Good… I was almost afraid we gave you more sedative than your, ah, _delicate constitution_ could handle."

Erik breathed in sharply and tried to pull away when the predatory Eranae raked his long nails along his jaw, raising angry red wheals in their wake. The deep baritone chuckle mocked him as the Eranae stalked in a circle around him.

"Such a soft little thing you are! No matter, even the weak have their limited usefulness, if properly employed..."

The Eranae stopped his pacing in front of Erik to face him head-on, still grinning like some sort of malicious Cheshire cat. Erik spit at him, hitting him square in the eye. The small defiance earned him a hard slap that rattled his teeth. The Eranae pulled back growling and Erik steeled himself for another strike. It didn't come. The vicious laugh returned instead.

"Quite spirited, aren't we? No, I do not mind. I would expect nothing less from a beast such as yourself. No, it pleases me, I think… You should prove to make for quite an enjoyable game. I do so love a challenge!"

A far-away look fell over the Eranae's face, but he shook it off quickly and returned his attention to the quarry caught in his web.

"How deliciously ironic that a such a soft little worm should possess such a powerful gift. Though, I suppose you could not have survived this long otherwise… But I digress. You have two paths before you now, mongrel. You may choose to fight us or to cooperate with us. I must warn you, if you choose the first, you will soon find life rather… unpleasant. Choose the second and you will be allowed to live much more comfortably."

The Eranae paused and smiled at Erik in a manner he no doubt judged to be kind, but it was a mockery and Erik's disgust must have been apparent, for the false smile was quickly replaced by an expression of annoyance, and he spit out his next pronouncement like venom. He locked a hand around Erik's neck, squeezing until Erik's breath was coming in a strained wheezing.

"I am not entirely unkind, you know. I will go ahead and inform you now, so that you need not wait to discover the facts on your own, that your freedom is forfeit no matter what you choose. You are henceforth the property of the Hari Anuma and my personal charge, mongrel. You have no name, no history, no family and no friends. You are a living weapon of the Hari Anuma, beast, and nothing more. Nobody can save you. Do not try to escape, it is hopeless."

The Eranae released him and Erik slumped against the cold metal, drawing in the damp air in gasps. The nails cruelly raked over his exposed chest and the Eranae turned on his heel and walked toward the exit, speaking to a guard that Erik had not seen before in the dim lighting on his way out.

"Give it water, the Master Anuma will not be pleased if it dies before we can make use of it."

Erik lacked the strength to open his eyes or struggle as the guard approached. He heard the splash of water and a hand took hold of his lower jaw, slowly prying it open as a bowl was brought to his dry lips. He drank greedily and cracked an eye open as the bowl was removed. He was surprised to find that the guard before him was quite young. His plating was fully formed, but still relatively thin. The youthful eyes avoided his own as the boy refilled the bowl again and repeated the procedure.

When the second bowl was empty, he placed it on a table outside of Erik's field of vision and started back toward his post at the door. Erik licked at his dry lips and tried to call out to him. He was horrified to hear a thin wheeze in place of his voice. He tried again to speak and when he failed a second time, he began to panic, pulling at his bonds until they began to cut into his skin. The guard returned to his side and placed his hands on Erik's arms, holding him down with the unearthly strength typical of the Eranae.

"Oh stop it! You'll just hurt yourself. They injected something to paralyze your vocal cords, but it's not permanent."

Erik struggled for another moment before giving it up. He was exhausted. The guard dropped his gaze to the floor and backed up a few steps, before turning from him and dashing back to the door.

Erik was not sure how he managed to sleep again. Perhaps there was something in the water he was given, or maybe it was just sheer exhaustion, but when consciousness returned to him for a second time, he was not on the metal table any longer. He was still bound at the wrists and without clothing, but he was now in a small room with a single small window high on the wall. He had been placed in one of the nest-like beds typical of the Eranae and found himself loathe to move. He knew that it was imperative for his continued health and sanity to escape, though, and forced himself to get up. The room had no other furnishings besides a small chamber pot in the corner. The window was higher than he could reach or jump to, and there was nothing to climb on the featureless white wall. There was a metal door with no window or handle and no locking mechanism he could discern.

Dejected, he sat down on the bed again, staring at his bound hands. He closed his eyes and the image of Oro's rage at the invasion of his home swam before his mind's eye. The thought that he may never see his grandfather again had tears stinging his eyes. Did anybody know where he was? Would they even look for him? If he ever got his hands on that coward Endo—

The door swung open and several guards entered the room. Erik struggled against his Eranae captors violently when they pulled him from his warm nest. He managed to kick another one in his soft neck and the other two pulled him to the floor, throwing all of their weight over him to keep him there. Another guard walked up and jammed a needle into his thigh. Erik gasped at the unexpected pain but his struggling soon ceased. The dim lighting on the walls began to grow brighter, seeping along the edges of all the objects in the room, giving his world a harsh glow. Sounds muffled in his head and everything seemed slower and appeared larger. Was he shrinking?

The head of the Eranae from the previous day floated into his vision as the guards stood up and left him laying on the floor. He shook his head at Erik, chiding him like a naughty child.

"You've been misbehaving, mongrel. You disappoint me. What a shame. Well, you need not worry, we'll teach you how to compose yourself soon enough."

The Eranae grabbed his bound hands and hauled him to his feet. Erik swayed but did not fall. He watched passively as the Eranae walked over to table to retrieve something. He felt another prick at his neck, but the pain was nearly non-existent.

"You have your voice now, mongrel. Say something."

Erik blinked. Say something? He could not remember any words. The Eranae slapped him. He startled and tried to think, but his drugged brain offered up nothing. Another hard slap and he fell to the floor.

"Perhaps the dosage was a bit high. Well, no matter. You will do what you are told."

Erik coughed and slowly rose to his knees and eventually his feet. He lifted his bound hands to rub at his eyes. Why was everything so bright? It was making his head hurt. He thought his mother had boarded up the window. Maybe she took it down while he was sleeping.

An hand grabbed the tuft of hair behind is left ear and burning yellow eyes faced him. A monster! But there were no mirrors in the room!

"Speak, mongrel!"

Erik managed an incoherent sound and the Eranae frowned at him crossly, but did not strike him again.

"You will call me Master."

Erik squinted and tried to process what the monster was saying to him. The hand twisted his hair tighter, threatening to pull it from his scalp. The monster shook him roughly.

"Say it! Call me Master or you will be punished severely!"

"Maah…"

The partial word came out like the bleating of a lamb and the monster threw him to the floor. Erik turned to his side and curled up tightly. Where was his mask? His mother would be very angry if she found him without it.

A kick to the ribs made him cry out.

"Get up, worm!"

He curled into himself tighter, drawing a knee up over his face. Rough hands grabbed him under the armpits and pulled him up to his feet.

"Say it! 'Master'! It is a simple enough word, even a beast like you could manage, surely?"

Erik sniffled but eventually complied.

"Master…"

"Good mongrel, I knew you had it in you! Now say it again."

"Master."

"_Again!_"

"Master!"

The Devil's laughter filled the air around him and Erik whimpered. He was being drawn into Hell like his mother told him he always would. He turned away from the burning yellow eyes and cringed as cold hands stroked softly at his neck.

"You see, mongrel? It is simple. Please me and you will be rewarded. Cross me and you will be punished. Easy, is it not? I think that will be enough for today."

The Eranae called the guards and Erik was led back to his little white room where he immediately sought the comfort of darkness, pulling the blankets of his nest over his head. He slept fitfully for some indeterminable amount of time and when he awoke, the drug had worn off. The memories of his humiliation swamped back to him.

There were two times Erik had truly wept since running away from home as a child. The first was after final flight from Giovanni's home and the second had been after letting Christine go. Now, for a third time, he practically howled, or would have if his voice had not been taken from him once again. The thin choking sounds emanating from his throat only served to fuel his tears further. He did not know how long he sat there crying into the matress, but eventually he slept yet again.

Erik fought his guards whenever they came, hoping to make for the exit across the room. He managed to kill two more over the next few days and received a beating each time for his trouble, followed by the administration of the drug. By the fourth day they began drugging him right out, not bothering to give him any time to fight back. The Eranae who had taunted him on that first day appeared every morning to pull him about like a kite on a string, making nonsensical demands of him until he gave in and called him "master."

Erik soon entered a dream-like state while undergoing his "training" with the Hari Anuma. While part of him remained conscious of reality, the rest of his mind floated about somewhere in the past and his guards often wondered why he spent so much of his downtime talking to someone he alternately addressed as "Oro" and "Giovanni," and occasionally "Tess" or even "Christine." He did not eat or drink unless forced to, mostly because he could not remember to do so, and the guards could only thank the Winds that he was still fastidious enough to make use of the chamber pot without outside prompting.

Within a month, his training was moved into a larger room. The dosage of the drug they gave him was slowly being decreased, but he was long since beyond caring enough to fight. His Master brought him the most interesting toys to play with now if he behaved himself, mostly Eranae and aliens who had displease Master. He sang to them, lulling them into a trance and leading them about like puppets on strings. On Master's behest, he led them into pits or made them hang themselves. It was all very amusing. How silly they were! The walked about like automatons, obeying his voice, no matter how ridiculous his commands. Didn't they know how silly they looked?


	16. On the Scent

Author's note: I apologize in advance for the blah-ness of this chapter but I couldn't think of a better way to do this. Unfortunately it's necessary fill-in for the next part of the plot and thus kind of unavoidable.

(p.s. VictoriaDream, it's "mon ami". Or, in the case of a female speaking of another female such as in our situation, "ma amie" or, colloquially, "m'amie." Not "mona ami". Maybe you're confusing the phrase with the Mona Lisa. Or something. I dunno. Well anyway, sorry, but I took two semesters of French in high school and that was kind of bugging me. I'm a bit OCD like that.)

---

Tess was at her wits' end. The last month had turned up one dead end after another. Either they were constantly moving Erik around or they had him hidden very very well. She was almost to the point of just giving up, and likely would have, were it not for the guilt that Oro's poignant grief and humble pleading had instilled in her and the images her own fertile imagination conjured of Erik being subjected to God-knew-what at the hands of the Hari Anuma.

After receiving Endo's desperate entreaty, she'd gone to the coordinates he'd sent her and met with him briefly. The meeting had been difficult and rather unfruitful. The man would not make any confessions as to his involvement in Erik's abduction but in his manner and speech, it was clear he'd facilitated the act and was now regretting the fruits of his actions. She got the feeling that he did not really care one whit for Erik's wellbeing, but mostly just feared his father's wrath.

Indeed, she had decided within five minutes of meeting him that she did not like him in the slightest. His primary motive in nearly everything, it seemed, was fear, which made extracting information difficult. She should have put on her Ayana armor, she'd decided. Then maybe he would no longer be more afraid of the Hari Anuma then her. Ultimately, she'd had to resort to bodily threats with a blaster to wrench the name of the Hari Anuma agent who'd orchestrated the abduction from him. Afterwards, she almost wished she hadn't. The name of Sota Enaga was not well known among the general populace, but among those living on the periphery of polite society, it was a name that universally conjured images of extreme sadism and cruelty. The man was a high-ranking agent of the Hari Anuma and was reputed to be quite close to the Master Anuma himself. It was also common knowledge among Tess's peers that he was completely insane--a genius in the art of torture and brainwashing, sadistic, bloodthirsty and always on the edge of extreme violence. Many stories of him circulated the lawless outposts of the galaxy, most of them somewhat exaggerated by the time they reached Tess's ears, but the truth was such that they required little exaggeration to shock.

She'd pumped Endo for all the information she could get out of him (a process somewhat similar to pulling teeth), and then she'd left the shaking mass to the reluctant care of his wife and returned to the Eranae system. It took her several tries before she was able to get a hold of Oro and gain clearance to land on the second moon. She did not even have to explain herself when he finally showed up on the other end of the communications channel, he merely nodded at her and told her his people would be waiting. The same servants escorted her to the Ohtamacil household as before, but they no longer regarded her with the calculated perfunctory coolness of before. They all seemed distracted and worried, and it did not take a mind reader to guess why.

Oro greeted her formally, bowing deeply before her. Tess felt rather uncomfortable at the act, not liking the implication of the master of the house humbling himself before a minor guest in his own home. She found herself worried for the old man, taking in his haggard and drawn appearance. His yellow eyes were duller than usual and bloodshot and he wrung his hands nervously though he spoke to her calmly.

"Tess… I am pleased to see you again. I don't suppose there's any question as to why you are here. I am somewhat surprised that you have arrived so soon… News travels fast among Hunters, then?"

"Not really… at least not this time. I was contacted directly by your son Endo. He wants me to clean up his mess for him but has been rather reticent with information. I got the name of the Hari Anuma behind it, but that's all I could get him to tell me."

Oro looked cross at the mention of Endo. Tess did not blame him.

"I do not know if I can tell you any more than that. I did not recognize any of them, nor did I see the vessel in which they arrived and left."

"Did any of them have any unusual marks? Scars, body art, distinctive jewelry?"

"No, nothing…"

"And they left nothing behind?"

"No. Only the broken glass and the blood of one of them who attacked Erik and lost his life for it."

"I don't suppose you had the foresight to collect a sample for DNA analysis?"

"I did. I had one of my servants submit it to the local police after Endo left. It took them only a few minutes to have it compared it to the databases, but no match was found."

Oro walked over to her and put his hands on her upper arms, begging her both with his eyes and words for help.

"Please, child, find my grandson. You returned him to me once and for that I will ever be grateful, but once again I need your help. I will provide you with anything you need, any payment you desire."

Tess swallowed and dropped her gaze from his, squirming under the strong and formidable patriarch's pitiful desperation. She took a deep breath and faced him again.

"I'll get him back, master Ohtamacil. I can't make any promises, but I will do all that is in my power to see him returned safely to you."

Tears shined in Oro's eyes and his hands moved to the sides of her face. He bent and kissed her forehead in a strange benediction and thanked her profusely. She eventually extracted herself from him and beat a quick exit, heading back to the Stardust still docked on the moon.

Tess put the ship into orbit and considered the best way of approaching the problem. She sighed in frustration. She hated leadless cases like this. It was bad enough when tracking down foolish and clumsy criminals, who would inevitably drop more clues later, but she'd only very limited dealings with the Hari Anuma in the past. She, like most Hunters, tended to avoid getting caught up in their dealings. Doing so nearly always led to no good end. They, unlike your garden variety smuggler, were secretive and professional in their business and rarely could their dealings be traced. The underlings on the bottom of the hierarchy that were responsible for the manual labor and shipping were eventually caught and jailed more often than not, and often were used intentionally as patsies, but they were never privy to the secrets of the group, and generally useless for information.

Tess had a few contacts of her own, mostly associates owing her a favor, who were familiar with the upper echelons of the Hari Anuma, and while many of them had heard whisperings of a new secret 'weapon' being trained in some remote and unknown base, she could find no concrete evidence that they even had Erik in their possession. She investigated what weak leads she had, nearly got herself killed on several occasions, and had come close to arousing the suspicions of the Hari Anuma themselves. For her troubles, she had nothing to show.

And now a month had passed. No new rumors emerged and she was at a complete loss. Wherever they had Erik, and whatever they were doing with him, was a secret kept even from the highest ranking members of the crime syndicate. She took comfort only in the knowledge that the would eventually have to unveil their new 'weapon' if they wished to use him. He could not be kept hidden indefinitely. She only prayed that Erik would still be Erik when that day came.

She decided to take a 'break' from her frantic searching and spent some quiet time in the Hunter-frequented pubs around the edges of the governed systems. She hated having to play waiting games, but given the danger associated with sniffing around large powerful crime organizations, it was the most viable option at the moment. She kept her eyes plastered on the news reports floating across the holoscreens and her ears open to the gossip and stories floating around her, looking for any sort of pattern that might lead her to Erik.

It was scarcely a week later when she finally caught a hint of some new shift in the regional power scheme. A string of unusual disappearances and suicides cropped up in the headlines and, while seemingly unrelated incidents, their close timeframe caught Tess's attention. It wasn't difficult for her to gain access to some of the victim politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats' former offices to question secretaries and co-workers. Her efforts, for the first time in weeks, produced results.

The secretary she spoke to in her first investigation, a young female Eranae, was clearly shaken. Tess tried to be sympathetic with her, realizing from the start that intimidation would probably only serve to send her into hysterics, and slowly coaxed the provocative tale from her.

"Two men showed up asking to see master Reh. I told them they needed an appointment and should come back later, but they insisted. I asked them to leave several times but they would not go. When I would not let them through, they stepped aside and there was a boy behind them—No, not a boy. A man, actually, now that I think of it. He looked like a boy because he had no plates, but he was definitely quite tall, and very odd looking. He had some kind of fur around his forehead and ears and his eyes were dull and vacant, with strange pupils. He was very thin and had many nearly healed wounds and some fresh looking scars over his torso. I could see them because he was wearing nothing but a bit of brown cloth wrapped loosely about his loins. I didn't like the look of him and I was about to push the button under the desk for security when he spoke to me. He had the oddest voice, very musical, not at all what I would have expected from his appearance. I wanted to push the button still but I couldn't make myself do it, I just sort of froze up! I don't know what came over me, honestly, it was like something else was controlling my body. And then the two men and the one with the Voice went through the door to the office. I heard the strange one singing and blacked out. When I awoke, they were gone and master Reh was hanging dead by a thin animal-gut rope from the ventilation grill!"

Interviews with three other witness produced similar tales. So they had finally loosed Erik and his Voice of the Winds on the galaxy. The trick now would be to look for a pattern in their attacks and predict where they would show up next. She would have to be there first, if she were to get Erik back. For the trick to work, Erik's attendants, always two in number, would have to be killed before they saw her face. If one saw her and managed to get away, the Hari Anuma would haunt her until they managed to corner and kill her. She did not need enemies such as that. She was getting impatient, though, with the increasingly disturbing descriptions of Erik's behavior. Tess worried for his sanity. Would he even recognize her? He might try to kill her. As a non-Eranae and a complete stubborn ass, his voice was not as great a threat to her as some, but she could not bear the thought of that heavenly sound she'd heard only once being turned upon her as a weapon.

Tess spent the next week again watching the incidents on the newscasts. The main problem was that she simply did not have the time to follow up every one and there was the statistical fact that not all of them would be the work of the Hari Anuma. There were always a few white-collar suicides every month just as a matter of course. She would sit in the back corner of the pub with her feet propped up, a mug of whatever was on tap next to her boots and an old-fashioned notebook and pencil in hand. She garnered some strange glances from her peers but none of them had the gall to question the Ayana armor-clad girl.

By the end of the week, the only pattern she could discern was that they were hitting mostly older, well-established men and women who had been in their positions for a long time. It seemed that their plan was to disrupt the infrastructure and cause instability in Eranae business and government. Precisely what they were trying to make room for, Tess was not entirely certain, though they were no doubt busy placing their own puppets in the oh so conveniently now-vacant positions. The economy was already starting to bear the weight of their mischief with stock prices sliding downhill rapidly. If it continued, the entire quadrant was in for a long-term economic recession at the very least. Unrest and in-fighting within the government were also heating up and faint murmurs of revolution were being whispered in the shadows.

Tess began shadowing the corporate headquarters and the Eranae Senate, hoping to stumble upon them by sheer luck. She usually arrived on the scene after the attacks just in time to interrogate the unlucky witnesses, but for good or for ill, her luck was about to change.


	17. The Minor Fall and the Major Lift

Two weeks of haunting the elite of Erana Prime had Tess about to snap. Her guesswork on the Hari Anuma's plot was little more than a total crapshoot and she knew it. Her patience was wearing thin and she was becoming sloppy. The Senate security nearly caught her on two occasions before she woke up and started paying attention again, and just in time.

It was still early, barely past nine a.m. when they arrived. Tess watched them come in from where she had wedged herself up in the molding around the high ceiling in the hallway like a spider and nearly didn't believe her eyes. Two smartly dressed Eranae materialized from the shadows and ducked into the senator's office, followed by a nearly naked and obviously worse-for-wear Erik. Tess slipped in behind them, shooting them both before they could turn around and eliciting a startled gasp from the secretary. Tess gave the woman a sharp look and shushed at her, but she bolted through the opposite door, no doubt to hide herself behind her employer. Tess ignored her and turned to Erik.

He stared at her as though he were looking right through her and then turned to look blankly at the heaps on the floor. She reached out for him when a sudden blow to her shoulder pulled her attention to a cruel-looking Eranae clad in armor of a similar design to her own and wielding a high-powered energy weapon standing in the doorway. The suit lacked a complete helmet, but the design clearly had been reverse-engineered from the Ayana model. She'd not seen it before and had no idea how effective it would be.

"Ah, so good of you to join us, little Hunter. I've been expecting you. You are called, Tess, correct? Well, I bid you welcome to our little game."

The Eranae slid around Erik into the room, kicking the door shut behind him and giving Tess a little sarcastic bow.

"I don't believe we have met formally. You may have heard of me though. I am Sota Enaga. I am certainly quite familiar with you. You've been dogging our steps for weeks now, don't think for a second it has escaped our notice. You foolish child! Do you believe we would leave our greatest weapon unprotected?"

Tess traced the Eranae's movements around the room but did not reply to his taunts or react in any fashion, despite her mounting panic. The situation was rapidly spirally out of control. She was thankful for the reflective Primeglass covering the sweat beading on her face.

_You've really screwed it up this time, moron_.

"Leave now, stupid girl. You can go tell your employer that his grandson is dead to him and ever will be. The mongrel belongs to us now, in body and mind! Yes, we know you're working for the senile old man! Who else would care for this miserable beast's hide?"

Tess's rage at the Eranae's disgusting pronouncement boiled under her skin and finally won out over her fear.

"He will _never_ belong to you, son of a bitch!"

She let loose a volley of shots, kicking up a cloud of sparks and smoke off her target. She rarely took pleasure in killing a target, but this time she relished in it. She relished in it, that is, until a dark baritone laugh rose and filled the room as the cloud dissipated. Enaga's suit bore a few superficial scorch marks, but her shots had not penetrated the armor. Erik still stood perfectly still and silent. He had not so much as flinched at the blaster shots that had gone past him within two inches.

"Do you think you are the only one who wears armor, idiot? You can't harm me with that toy anymore than I can you! What do you think you will accomplish? Do you think your mongrel even wants to go with you? I told you, he belongs to me!"

Tess looked into Erik's passive eyes.

"Erik! Forget this loser, come with me! It's Tess!"

He did not respond. Enaga laughed.

"Go on, beg and plead all night if you wish! I appreciate the entertainment!"

Tess walked up and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him hard. She flipped back the visor of her helmet and stared desperately up at him. Erik looked down at her but his face remained slack, emotionless. He did not know her.

"Erik! It's Tess! I saved you from the opera house, remember? I saved you!"

She was getting frantic. Erik suddenly stepped back from her grasp, but his face did not change.

"You see, fool? He is mine! Come, mongrel, we have work to do!"

Enaga stepped around Tess and Erik followed wordlessly as the two pushed their way into the senator's room. Tess could not bring herself to move, so great was her shock. She stood rooted to the floor as she heard the scream of the secretary. She heard Erik sing, briefly, an otherworldly sound that pulled at her consciousness. The Voice suddenly stopped and was followed odd '_whump_' sound, then silence. Erik and Enaga did not reemerge from the room.

Tess stared at the closed door in dumb shock until she heard many footsteps running down the hall. The Senator or the secretary must have tripped the security alarm before being stripped of their senses by Erik's siren call. She shook herself and pulled her visor down, springing from the room and dashing past the self-hanged senator and out through the window, up the outside of the building and disappeared into the city.

She ran without thought or direction until her muscles screamed despite the support of the armor. She finally collapsed into an alley when the burning in her lungs would no longer be ignored. She shoved back the Primeglass covering her face and wiped fiercely at the tears blinding her. He hadn't even recognized her! Not a twitch, not a blink, nothing to signal that he had ever known her at all! _Oh Erik, what have they done to you?_

She swallowed back her sobs and stood up. She had no desire to attract attention from curious passers-by while sitting in a damp alley. She jammed the visor back in place and looked around. At first she had no clue where she was and began wandering up and down streets until she found a maglift train station with a map. She despised mass transportation, but there was no way she was going to walk all the way back to the docking station where she'd left the Ziggy Stardust; it would take hours. She purchased a token and sat down to wait for the next train.

What the hell was she going to do now? She should have grabbed Erik and run. She should have just shot that laughing bastard in the face, grabbed Erik and run like the fires of hell. Why had she just stood there like a moron? Stupid, stupid, _stupid!_ She couldn't do this anymore. She couldn't face him again, not that blank face and dull eyes and skeletal scarred body. He'd been thin before, when she'd last seen him, but now his eyes were truly sunken and his ribs and hip bones stood out in sharp relief, threatening to cut right through his soft, sallow skin. She'd never thought to compare him to a corpse before, but he had truly seemed of the living dead.

Her train roared into the station and she stepped on board. It was not especially crowded, now that it was nearly ten and the morning rush was beginning to wane, but she would not have had trouble gaining a seat even if it had been the height of the day's traffic. The few passengers near the entrance backed away from her at the sight of her armor and she flopped into a seat near the door. The ride back to the docking area took barely ten minutes on the sonic-speed train, even with the stops, and she almost didn't notice her stop in time to get off. She leapt through the doors just as they began to close and ran back to the Stardust.

Tess stripped off her armor quickly, haphazardly tossing the pieces onto the floor. She put the cloaking shield over the ship and piloted it across the massive city and beyond the outlaying suburbs towards the foothills that held the Ohtamacil estate. She landed the Stardust on Oro's front lawn, not caring in the slightest about the tree she destroyed in the process. She marched into manor as though she were on her way to her own funeral, going right past the servants without giving them time to question her. She realized she had no idea where anything in the expansive home was, and began to wander the halls, poking her head into door after door until she came upon Oro, bent over a datapad at the desk in his study. Oro did not look up when she stood behind his shoulder.

"I told you again, Shira, I am not hungry, thirsty or tired. Tell your mother to stop sending you in here and leave me in peace."

"Shira's not here, master."

Oro turned his head at the sound of the Hunter's quiet voice, hope springing to his face momentarily. The expression was replaced by sorrow when he took in Tess's look of defeat.

"You still have not found him."

Tess wrapped her arms around her ribs and shook her head and tried desperately not to cry. She failed miserably as the fat, hot tears that had been threatening since her flight from the Senate poured forth and she shook with violent sobs.

"I… I found… found him… He… he didn't… didn't… even reco-… recognize me!"

Oro stood and led Tess by the elbow to the couch, pushing at her until she sat. Unshed tears glistened in his own eyes, but he did not succumb to them as Tess had. He sat beside her and pulled her into an embrace, tucking her red face into his neck as she pulled at his tunic, bunching the cloth into her fists as though she would tear the material in half.

"I'm sorry. The Winds know I am sorry… How did it come to this, child? For a fortnight my life seemed complete, only to fall apart again…"

Tess sniffled loudly and swallowed against her sobs, regaining some measure of control and calm after her outburst. She pulled back against his embrace and he released her, allowing her to sit up straight and wipe her damp face in her shirtsleeves.

"I'm sorry, master… I never cry like this, I haven't since I was a little kid. I don't know what came over me--It's just so damned frustrating!"

"You need not apologize for honest tears, Tess. There is no shame in feeling sorrow over the loss of a friend."

"You should not be so kind to me. You sent me to retrieve Erik and I come back empty-handed. I should have just grabbed him and ran! I _almost had him_!"

Oro turned to gaze out of the window. He rubbed at his jaw and sighed.

"What's done is done, there's no use in berating yourself over it."

He turned back to face her, his expression turning suddenly serious.

"We will get him back, Tess. You saw him alive, and that eases my heart. Where there is life, there is hope. But we must get him away from those monsters, and soon. The longer they have him, the deeper he will bury his heart and soul, and if we do not act quickly he may stray too far from himself to come back… he may have already--but let's not think like that. We must keep hope!"

Oro stared intently at Tess, as though he could read something in her tear-stained face and mussed auburn hair.

"This task is beyond the reach of a solitary child, though, I'm afraid. It was wrong of me to place this burden solely on your shoulders, no matter how formidable your armor and reputation. I have a few contacts high in the Eranae military and friends in many of those of the neighboring systems. I do not care what the rest of the Eranae think of my half blooded grandson, and I think it is time we employed a little outside help, Endo's foolish fears be damned! It long overdue for the Hari Anuma to be brought to justice; they have plagued my homeworld long enough!"


	18. Send in the Marines!

Tess was perched nervously on a side table against the wall of Oro's dining room. The place was absolutely packed with every chair normally at the table filled and several extras brought in by the servants. High-ranking military officials from the entire sector and a few beyond had descended upon the Ohtamacil home over the past week and now that all were present, the meeting had begun.

It hadn't taken very long for Oro to summon all of them. He'd been providing cheap raw materials at-cost for much of the regional defense for years. The last war with Ragnar race in a neighboring sector over a decade ago had devastated much of the region and Oro had taken it upon himself to personally ensure that such a war never occurred again. He'd been selling the materials at rock-bottom prices under the condition that war would not be waged within the sector, and, surprisingly, they hadn't. This likely had more to do with various economic issues and the inherent interdependence of the region than any lack of ambition, but either way, the last decade had been quiet and the all outside threats had been swiftly put down.

Suffice it to say, much of the region's powers-that-be owed Oro a big favor, and he now called them all in at once. He'd frowned at Tess's choice to wear her armor during the day when they began arriving, but eventually acquiesced when her nerves would not be calmed as long as she agreed to keep her face exposed and leave her blasters in the guest room she was staying in. The Hunters primarily operated in a very fuzzy legal gray-zone, tolerated because they were successful and relatively cheap compared to maintaining a large permanent civilian police force, but still looked upon by the regional governments with high suspicion. They often had crossed paths with the military as well, and their methods were highly unorthodox. The military did not like Hunters and the Hunters did not like the military.

Both Tess and Oro received skeptical looks as each officer and soldier noticed her presence, and though she began at the dinner table, she'd quickly retreated to the back of the room to avoid the thinly veiled hostility aimed at her presence.

Once everyone was assembled, Oro sat at the head of the table and addressed the room.

"I was not very explicit when I called you all to my home, only that I needed aid and to remind you that if nothing else, you at least owed it to me to hear me out. I come here today to address the ongoing problem of the Hari Anuma."

The silence following the mention of the crime ring was deafening. Oro stared them all down, waiting for the message to hit home. The guests began to shift uncomfortably in their seats.

"They have plagued our sector of the galaxy for _centuries_, my brothers. They began as a small gang on the southern continent five hundred years ago, and now their venomous touch has reached across the planet and spread to neighboring worlds. Legitimate businesses like my own have suffered under their illegal interference and theft and they are a parasite upon our good society.

"I, like many others, have sat and done nothing for fear of my own safety, and now they have finally stolen something I cannot replace. Tess, the Hunter you have chased to the back of the room with your ill will, returned my lost grandson to me a few months ago. I had him here in my home for only a short time, but as soon as I laid eyes on him, I recognized him as a missing piece of my heart. The Hari Anuma have taken him from me. He has done them no wrong, said nothing to gain their ire. He merely was born with a rare gift, the Voice of the Winds. In their greed and lust for power, the Hari Anuma took him from me."

The room was silent as the military officials looked around at one another, until the chief strategist of the Eranae army cleared his throat and addressed Oro.

"I regret your misfortune, master Ohtamacil, and offer my deepest sympathies, but I fail to see how this changes anything. The Hari Anuma are deeply entrenched in our society, and they are a parasite, but we are no more equipped to destroy them now than we were before. They may be a parasite, but their presence is fairly invisible to the common citizen. Forgive me, master Ohtamacil, but I do not think it worth the resources and the lives of our soldiers to find one lost grandson."

Oro stood up and leaned toward the strategist.

"Oh, I think it is high time something was done about them! You do have the resources, you've had them for years, you simply lack the mettle!"

"It is not a matter of courage, master Ohtamacil. They are outside of our jurisdiction. They are the responsibility of the civilian police force."

"The civilian defense genuinely _is_ unequipped to deal with them, especially since the fools in our government have cut their forces nearly in half over the past five years to rely on the Hunters instead! The problem is only going to get worse!"

Oro resumed his seat and turned to Tess, motioning her forward. She slid off the side table and walked forward to stand beside him.

"Tell them what you've seen, Tess."

Tess chewed her bottom lip slightly, taking in the hostile faces around the table, and spoke.

"I began my search for Erik… Master Ohtamacil's grandson, that is, about two months ago. At first I the only clue to Erik's abduction I could find was the name of Sota Enaga, a high-ranking member of the Hari Anuma, a name which some of you may have heard already. It did not lead me anywhere. I had nearly given up when I decided to back off and spend some time listening instead. A string of unusual suicides and disappearances among the powerful of Eranae society reported on the newscasts caught my attention and I followed them up by interviewing some of the coworkers of the deceased.

"It was clear to me by the second interview that they were the handiwork of the Hari Anuma. They have brainwashed Erik and turned his Voice into their own personal weapon to break down the fabric of your people's society. I do not know their full plans, but the recent economic depression is the direct result of their peculiar murders and the disruption of the Senate and government at large is also their doing. I'm sure you are all quite aware of the recent civil unrest? I personally believe that they are planning nothing less than a slow takeover of your entire planet, maybe the whole quadrant. They may be invisible to the common man right now, but I doubt that will last much longer."

One of the Eranae officers scoffed at Tess.

"How do we know you are not making this up, girl? Why should we trust the words of a deceitful Hunter, and an off-worlder at that!"

Tess almost said something quite rude, but Oro cut her off.

"Shalo, I can vouch for this woman's word as being good as my own! And I will thank you to leave your ridiculous prejudices at the door the next time you enter my home."

The chief strategist spoke again.

"I cannot say I am unaware of the current situation. Intelligence has been following the recent suicides over the last week or so, and we have heard some disturbing tales as well. News of the involvement of the Hari Anuma, however, is an unsettling revelation. You say this boy of yours, he has the Voice of the Winds? That's just an old myth!"

"It is no myth, I assure you. I have heard it with my own ears."

"If that is so, then your grandson is quite possibly the most dangerous man alive. You do realize that we may be required to kill him along with the Hari Anuma if this is true?"

Oro sprang forward like a cat and had his hand around the strategist's throat for a bare second before coming to his senses and releasing him.

"You will not harm Erik if I have to face the entire army to protect him! He is not dangerous but when others make him so! Return him to me and I will see that he does not cause anymore trouble. This recent trouble is not his fault, he is not in his right mind!"

The strategist rubbed his abused throat and looked doubtful. Tess broke in on Erik's behalf.

"The Hari Anuma have indeed done something to him. I met Erik before this all happened and when I saw him again at the Senate, he did not recognize me or even seem to truly notice my presence. He was in some sort of waking dream, that is the only way I can describe it…"

The strategist sighed and cast his eyes heavenward in frustration.

"Fine, Oro, we'll see if we can get your grandson back in one piece. But if he threatens the lives of any of our soldiers, I cannot make any guarantees. Can you give us a physical description at least?"

Oro hesitated only a brief moment.

"His appearance is highly unusual due to influence of his Tellurian mother—"

"A half-breed! Oro, you are calling out the military of the entire region for the sake of a _half-breed?_ Have you gone dotty in your old age?"

Oro fairly well roared at the accusation.

"His ancestry is _meaningless!_" _As_ I was saying, you will know him when you see him. He is quite tall, nearly my own height, but lacks any of the normal adult plating. You can't miss him. Get him back for me, men, and I will consider any and all debts to my family, both monetary and otherwise, repaid in full."

Oro stared them all down with a look that would cow all but the most foolhardy.

"I believe we have discussed the matter enough for the moment, let us take a recess and we will resume this after lunch."

The crowd broke up, wandering off around the estate. The strategist remained behind to speak to Oro privately.

"Oro, I've known you for a long time and I consider you a friend. I only hope you realize this could ruin your family's reputation, sending out the entire army to fetch your half-breed grandson. Is he worth that much to you, to risk what you have spent your life building?"

"The older I get, Yana, the less interest I have in material wealth. It is meaningless unless it is shared and family in particular is worth far more than gold. I do not care what Erik's mother is, he is my grandson."

"Am I correct to assume that his father was Ohte?"

Oro sighed and rubbed roughly at his neck.

"Yes, you are correct."

"You can't replace him, Oro."

"I'm not trying to, Yana. Well, perhaps in the beginning, I saw Erik as something of a possible replacement, but no longer--I love my grandson for his own sake, and I want Erik back."

The strategist placed a hand on Oro's shoulder and regarded him seriously.

"I will do whatever I can to see your family made whole again, Oro, but I have little influence over the attitudes of my peers."

"Whatever you can do is all I would ask, Yana. I do not expect you to move mountains, only to cross them when the time comes."

The entire party was soon moved to the headquarters of the Eranae military and Tess found herself dragged along for the ride. She was pushed into working with the chief strategist and despite their initial misgivings, both were pleasantly surprised to find a like mind. Yana's long experience allowed him to discern patterns that had escaped Tess and together they had narrowed the range of possible next targets considerably. It would not be long before they sprang the trap.


	19. Reunion

Tess replaced the power packs in her blasters, jamming them in her belt and pacing nervously. She, Oro, the chief strategist and several other military officers were all packed in a small room in the basement of a government building a few blocks away from the Senate council building. They had been tracking the movements of the Hari Anuma for a week now, and had narrowed the day's target to a particular Senator that had been pushing a stricter smuggling bill in the past few days, thus making herself a prime target. The killings had escalated to several a day and none of the public were under the impression that they were suicides or accidents any longer. Discord among the masses was rising. Erik's voice was a siren call that no Eranae could resist and the exaggerated stories of attacks by some sort of demon or phantom being passed around were only fueling public fear.

The situation could no longer be ignored by the Eranae government. This mission was to be the first of many military strikes against the ever-bolder Hari Anuma, though it would be the last Tess got herself involved in, if she had anything to say on the matter.

As they waited, hundreds of snipers and soldiers were being slipped into the area, quietly surrounding and infiltrating the Senate. The military lacked the technology and funding for exotic armor such as Tess's but they were still armed to the teeth and would pose a significant threat to the crime ring. Great pains had been taken to keep the plans secret, as any sniff of it would send the Hari Anuma back into hiding. Everything seemed to be going as planned, though.

"You understand what you are to do, Tess, correct? The success of this campaign depends entirely on you. You are to retrieve the target no matter what he does or says, or what obstacles you have to remove in the process. If Erik cannot be retrieved, he will be silenced. It took me a long time to convince my superiors to allow Oro this chance to have his grandson back alive. Do not fail."

Tess nodded and checked the status of her tranquilizer dart gun and her net launcher. Her nerves were electrified and only the comfort of routine was holding her together. She was determined to treat this like any other bounty, giving Erik no quarter. She would risk hurting him in the short term to not have him gunned down like an animal by the military. Oro and the strategist would receive visuals directly from a camera mounted on Tess's helmet and she would bring Erik to this basement room once she completed her mission until any remaining Anuma were dealt with. A small headset had been placed within her helmet to request further backup and to report back to the strategist if need be.

Tess took a deep breath and pulled her visor down as they received signal from a sniper that Erik and his customary two escorts had been sighted. She dashed from the door as Oro wished her good luck, running up through the building and leaping from roof to roof until she arrived at the Senate building. She vaporized a window and dropped in on the top floor. She had memorized the building's floor plan over the past week and made her way down to a third floor office, again shooting the two Hari Anuma in the back.

Erik stopped when the two men hit the floor and stood still as a statue. Tess hesitated only a brief second, but it was long enough for another Hari Anuma to appear from the shadows. She did not react, knowing the sniper she could not see but knew was hidden somewhere in the Senator's room would shoot him as soon as he was in view. As he stepped into the light, she recognized his face.

"Erik! Sing! Bring the insects from their shadows!"

Erik's back was still to her, but the voice that issued forth seemed to come from everywhere at once, wrapping itself around her brain and covering it in a thick fog. She watched as one, two, three and more snipers slid from their hiding spots, walking forward like zombies toward Erik and Sota Enaga laughed, shooting them down as they appeared. She wanted to move forward, but could not quite bring herself to do so.

Another voice suddenly cut through the fog surrounding Tess's mind, shouting at her from the earpiece she wore.

"Tess! Get Erik or he will be shot, stop him _NOW!_"

The barked order brought her to her senses and she shook off the soporific effects of Erik's voice, grabbing her tranquilizer gun and planting a dart in the back of Erik's neck. The song stopped and he slumped to the floor.

Sota Enaga dashed toward her, tackling her to the ground, his own armor multiplying his already ridiculous Eranae strength. Tess sent her elbow back against the man's face, cracking the plates covering his forehead. Enaga did not react to the blow or the blood seeping into his eyes, instead grabbing Tess's helmet and wrenching it off of her. He flipped her over and wrapped his hands around her neck. She could feel her windpipe collapsing under the pressure

"You worthless interfering mongrel scum!"

The Hari Anuma squeezed tighter and held her down as she struggled against him. The last thing Tess felt before she blacked out was the pressure on her neck suddenly lifting and the weight of the enraged Eranae falling heavily over her.

---

Tess woke up lying on the table in the basement conference room with Oro's worried face leaning over her. It disappeared from her blurry sight and she heard him speak to someone else in the room over the wheezing of her own struggling breath.

"She's awake, Yana!"

He reappeared and prodded at her bruised throat. She cringed and swatted at his inquisitive hand before attempting to sit up. Pain flared in her entire neck as Oro pushed her back down.

"Do not move, child. We will have a medical team in here as soon as one can be spared. I'm afraid this mission turned out to be a bit of a mess. More of the Hari Anuma were present than we'd anticipated. Apparently they had been expecting the attack. There are still a few being searched for. I am sorry to say that the military has lost several young men today."

Oro's guilt was obvious, but Tess was too tired to muster the emotional energy required to care about a few soldiers. She tried to speak, choked and spit up a small amount of blood.

"Where—"

"Erik is right beside you, child. He has not woken yet. I do not know what type of sedative you used, so you would have a better idea of how long he will sleep than I do. You have been unconscious yourself for over an hour. I feared that you wouldn't wake at all. That armor of yours might withstand a plasma blast, but apparently it was not designed to protect against madmen."

Tess tried to turn her head to the side to see the man laid out beside her but her swollen neck would not obey. She blindly reached out with her hand instead, feeling the slightly fevered skin of his belly under her fingers.

"He is not well, Tess. I do not think they fed him at all, if his appearance says anything."

Oro reached over Tess to his grandson, murmuring something she could not discern. Exhaustion and Oro's voice lulled her to sleep.

Something prodding at her sore neck woke her again barely a half an hour later. An Eranae she did not recognized pulled a needle from a large metal box and punctured the skin under her larynx with it, slowly injecting some unknown substance. The pain in her throat lessened almost immediately. Several hands flipped her onto her side and her head was pushed toward her chest. She cried out at the pain that flared in her vertebral column at the movement. The hands held her down firmly as another injection was inserted in between two of her neck vertebrae into the spinal column.

The medical team packed up without speaking a single word to her and swiftly left the room, presumably to tend the other casualties of the day's festivities. Oro gently lifted her into a sitting position and she finally caught sight of Erik. He was thinner than ever and reminded her more of a dried up Egyptian mummy than a living man. She tried to swallow only to find her mouth dryer than the Sahara. She turned to Oro.

"Is there any water around?"

"Yes. I will be back in a minute. Yana, watch them for me."

Yana blinked from the corner where he was dozing in a chair.

"Yea, sure thing."

Oro left and Yana stood up and yawned, stretching his arms over his head.

"Quite a mess you made, Tess. Figured a Hunter like you would know better than to hesitate."

Tess blushed deeply.

"I usually don't. But then, I don't usually know my prey, not personally anyway."

"That shouldn't make a difference. You should follow your duty no matter what."

"Just say 'yes sir' and ask no questions? I don't agree with that philosophy in the slightest."

"Hm. Well I suppose I shouldn't expect some off-worlder Hunter would understand honor and loyalty. So far as I have seen, there is none among your kind anyway."

"You obviously don't know many of 'my kind'. We tend to be quite loyal, under the right conditions. Such as with our friends, for example. That's the problem with _your_ kind. You only deal in absolutes."

The strategist rolled his eyes at Tess and sat back down in his corner seat. Tess wondered slightly at her own speech. Since when did she have friends, or feel loyal to anything?

"So how long is that bag of bones going to be out? The medics didn't recognize the sedative in his blood."

"It lasts about a day, or until the antidote is administered."

"So where's the antidote?"

"On my ship. I don't have any with me. Probably better to leave him out until we get back home anyway."

"Home?"

"The Ohtamacil estate, I mean. Erik's home."

"And where is your home?"

Tess shrugged and glanced at Oro as he returned with a bottle of water for her.

"Nowhere. Anywhere, really. Wherever my ship is."

"A rootless wanderer, then. No wonder you don't understand national loyalty. Stray animals, your lot. Uncivilized if you ask me."

"I had a permanent home once, and a country."

"Hmph. Didn't stop you from abandoning them."

Oro handed Tess the bottle of water and sat down beside Erik.

"May we dispense with the unpleasant bickering, children? I am tired."

Tess wanted tos ay she had no choice, but the she knew she would have left if she had.

"When can we leave this place?"

"When the area is cleared of the enemy and I receive word from my superiors that it is safe to emerge with the target."

"His name is Erik, moron."

Oro huffed and stood up before the strategist could reply.

"I said stop it, now."

The communicator hanging from the strategist's belt beeped and he answered it.

"The area has been cleared, we are to leave immediately."

Oro nodded and picked Erik up, following the army officer out of the building. Tess trailed behind. The trip back to the Ohtamacil estate was subdued as everyone was either exhausted or sedated. It was nearly dawn when their escorts dropped them off and Tess and Oro, with Erik still draped over his shoulder, stepped through the doors.


	20. Pantomime

Tess was absolutely exhausted when they reached the Ohtamacil home and both she and Oro agreed that it would probably be better to just let Erik sleep for the time being. Tess stumbled back to the guest room she was staying in and stripped off her armor, tossing the pieces into the corner. She'd been given her helmet back on the way out of the government building; one of the surviving snipers had retrieved it.

Oro took Erik to his bedroom. The books he'd been reading and papers with architectural sketches and scraps of musical notation were scattered about the room, looking for all it was worth as though he'd left it only yesterday. Oro had not had the heart to move anything even when he'd been certain Erik would never return. Now, the resident of the cluttered bedroom finally returned. Oro pulled the filthy loincloth off of Erik, tossed it into the trash bin, and tucked him into the nest-bed. He pulled the covers up to Erik's chin and turned to leave.

Hesitating at the door, he turned back and sat down cross-legged on the floor. He reached a hand out to trace the arched line of Erik's skull, fingering the tuft of hair behind his ear.

"I never thought I'd see you again, child. This is a miracle beyond my prayers. Praise ever be to the Winds, the Breath of the Divine, for they have returned you to me."

Oro sat at Erik's bedside despite his own fatigue through what little remained of the night. Part of him still did not believe it and he feared to look away, lest his grandson disappear. The sky outside the window began to grow brighter at the horizon as dawn approached. He watched silently as the sun rose through the heavens, bright as ever, despite all that had happened. His relief was becoming tinged with worry. What state would Erik be in when he awoke? Would he recognize Oro? He had not seemed to even see Tess. He only prayed he had the strength to pull Erik from whatever recess of his mind he'd retreated to.

It was approaching midmorning and he stood, cringing slightly at the popping in his joints, and finally left Erik. He walked down the hall to Tess's room and knocked lightly on the door. He received no answer and cracked open the door, waiting for a yell or a boot to come flying at him if she were dressing, but he received neither and stepped into the room.

She was still sleeping. He wasn't especially surprised considering their late night. He knelt down and passed a hand over her forehead gently to wake her. He'd learned his lesson about shaking her by shoulder while she was sleeping the first morning after she began staying with him. He'd receiving a black eye for his mistake and Tess had split her knuckles to the bone on the plate above his eye. Tess blinked and rolled over, waving him away.

This time, he did not hesitate to give her a sharp poke. She opened her eyes and sat up, staring at him crossly.

"What's the damn rush? That sedative'll keep Erik happy for at least another twelve hours, you know."

"I want you to give him the antidote. I want to know... need to know… what his mind is like."

Tess frowned at Oro's admission of his fears. She shared the same, but had managed to shove them aside for the most part. Now she would be forced to face them long before she felt up to the task.

"Sure, I'll go fetch it for you. Do you want to just come out with me? I guess you won't need me around anymore…"

"Nonsense! You may stay. In fact, I insist that you stay for a while at least. I might need your help with Erik. Also, you may consider my home yours from now on. This is your room now, whenever you want it. You have returned my grandson to me twice now; as far as I am concerned you are part of my family. You need not wander any longer, if you do not wish to."

Tess was mildly mortified at the man's entirely too generous offer. She had never quite managed to become comfortable with the man's open and affectionate nature and now she fairly blushed to the gills. She was not especially accustomed to personal attention of any sort. She wasn't sure she'd ever be comfortable spending much time in the Ohtamacil home, but didn't have the heart to simply refuse the offer.

"Um… Thank you, master Ohtamacil…"

"Oro, please. You may dispense with the formalities at this point, I think. The antidote?"

"Oh, of course."

Tess stood up and grabbed the socks from the previous day, slipped on her boots and marched out of the house and down the lawn in her pyjamas. The loose material around her ankles quickly soaked up the morning dew still lingering on the grass. She ducked into the cargo hold of the Stardust, shuffling around through various crates and bags for the antidote. She knew she had a supply of the stuff somewhere, but as she almost never used it, preferring to leave her prey unconscious for the police to deal with, she did not know where she'd stashed it. Twenty minutes of frantic digging later, she finally dug it out, dropped a phial into her pocket and sprinted back to the house.

She found Oro waiting in the front hall and handed the drug off to him with dosage instructions, ducking around him to return to her room to change into dry clothing. She dressed quickly but hesitated at the door. Oro would be administering the antidote now; did she really want to see the results? She paced around her room waiting for some sound to signal Erik's return to the waking world, too chicken to join Oro at the moment.

Oro rummaged around in the small medical kit he kept in his home for emergencies and pulled out a sterile needle. He took the needle and phial into Erik's room, setting them on the floor next to the bed. He kneeled down on the raised edge of the mattress, pulling Erik up to lay against his chest while he filled the needle slowly. He pushed out a bubble of air and excess antidote and pulled Erik's arm toward his chest. He jabbed the syringe into the sinewy flesh of Erik's upper arm coupled with a silent prayer.

Erik opened his eyes slowly a minute later and stared blankly up at the ceiling. Oro put himself in Erik's line of sight, but received no reaction or sign of recognition.

"Erik? Erik, speak to me, please!"

The dull yellow eyes rolled around in Erik's skull like a blind man's as his head tilted slowly from side to side, failing to focus on any one particular object. Oro put his hand on Erik's forehead to still the disturbing motion. He rubbed at the skin stretched over Erik's forehead like shrink-wrap, running his fingers through the tufts of hair, hoping that the gentle contact would somehow coax Erik from his strange fit back to reality. Without his dark Master issuing orders, he did not move, as though he were a puppet with cut strings.

Oro's luck, apparently had run out. No amount of yelling, pleading or shaking produced a response in his grandson. He was beginning to get frantic. He was nearly to the point of giving up and just slapping Erik as a last resort when Tess poked her head through the doorway. He stared at her as though she were a ghost, suddenly frozen at the realization of his own mounting madness. He sighed and let Erik slump back into the bed, sitting back on his heels and inviting Tess in.

"Nothing I do gets through to him. He's nearly catatonic…"

Tess walked over and sat on the other side of Erik and pulled lightly at his hair with one hand while the other scratched at the nape of her neck.

"Long-term trauma will do that sometimes… Dunno what to tell you. Just take care of him, maybe if he isn't hurt anymore, he'll come out of it on his own. Eventually…"

Tess traced the pronounced features of his thin face with her fingertips, feeling more useless than ever. Before she met Erik, it had been a very long time since she'd been faced with an obstacle she couldn't find an immediate solution for. Hunting required wits, intuition and a bit of creative thinking, but the concept was always quite simple: pick a target, chase him down and turn him in. Step A, step B, step C. This problem was much more convoluted and far beyond the realm of her expertise.

"I wish I could do something for him."

"Just be here. That is enough, for now, I think."

Oro stood up and looked at his insensate grandson critically.

"I think I will start, at least, by giving him a bath. He's filthy. Did those monsters even let him bathe?"

Tess sniffed critically and scrunched her nose up a the smell of old sweat and illness that lingered in the air.

"Doesn't seem like it."

Oro bent and scooped Erik up, walking off toward the bath house. He called out to a couple servants on his way to bring towels and extra soap and to go change the bedding in Erik's room. They stared in confusion at the sight of their master carrying what looked like a bit of skin stretched over a tall skeleton, but dashed off to comply when he yelled at them to hurry it up.

He walked into the cloying damp heat of the family bath and propped Erik up in the warm water. He strippied and slid into the large tub beside him and had the servants leave the soaps and cloths next to the tub when they returned.

"I know you think you're too old to have someone else bathe you, but I think we can make an exception for once…"

It took over an hour of scrubbing to release the dirt from his skin and Oro was quite tired by the end of it. Erik's skin was at least two shades lighter and flushed red from the hot water when he was finished, though. He pulled Erik from the water and dried them both with towels. He dressed himself and wrapped Erik in as soft a robe as his servants could find, taking him immediately back to his bed.

Oro blinked tiredly and left Erik to find Tess. He discovered her at the breakfast table finishing her morning meal.

"Tess, would you watch over Erik for a few hours? I need to rest."

"Huh? Yea, sure."

Tess stuffed the rest of the fruit she'd been eating into her pockets and left to go to Erik's room. Oro collapsed into the chair she'd just vacated and buried his face in his hands. He'd been planning to go back to his room but ended up falling asleep for several hours at the table.

Tess walked into Erik's room and crouched beside him, pulling the blankets back far enough to expose his torso and pulling open the front of the robe. The wounds she'd seen on him the first time were finally healed, at least, though thin white scars remained in their place. She traced over them with a finger, able to feel the outline of the ribs under his skin as well as she could see them. She threw the blanket back over him and sat down cross-legged on the floor. She pulled the fruit from her pockets, sitting the soft red peach-like things in a line along the floor beside the bed. She smiled as Erik turned his head slightly toward the bright color.

"Do you want one?"

He didn't answer her, but the fact that he seemed to notice something outside himself was reassuring. Tess picked up one of the fruits and held it in front of his flat nose. He tracked the object with his eyes as she waved it about. She took it back, hiding it in a fold of her shirt and he seemed to search for it with his eyes.

Tess put the fruit down and walked behind Erik. She grabbed him under the armpits and pulled him into a sitting position, albeit a rather slumped-over one.

She moved back to his side and pulled out the short dagger she kept strapped to her leg for emergencies. She cut one of the fruits in half and held the piece out to him. He stared at it and clearly wanted the object but did not reach out for it. Tess frowned. They must have withheld food from him as a punishment. She sighed and cut the fruit into smaller pieces, ignoring the sticky nectar that dripped down her arm and into her lap. She held the bits to his lips, relieved when he pulled them into his mouth without further prompting. She had been afraid that she would have to force-feed him. He was dangerously thin, even by Eranae standards, and most likely malnourished.

Tess slowly cut up each of the fruits she had brought for him and when they were gone she left to retrieve more. She looked back as she reached the door to find Erik truly watching her, albeit passively, for the first time since his kidnapping. She grinned and ran to the kitchens. She rinsed her sticky hands off in the sink and filled a bowl with more fruit and some bread and cheese. As an afterthought, she grabbed a pitcher of juice and shoved a glass into her pocket as well.

She found him standing in the door to the bathroom when she returned. She rolled her eyes at the implication. _Well, at least he's still potty-trained_. She set the food down on the floor and grabbed his hand, pulling him back to the bed and coaxing him to sit. She began to feed him again, pleased when he started to reach for the food with his hands as she brought it toward him. He still wouldn't take anything from the plate on his own, even when she waved it under his chin, but it was a start, at least.

He seemed to have taken his fill about halfway through the plate. It didn't seem like much to Tess, but she supposed his stomach had probably shrank a bit during his forced fasting. She nibbled at Erik's leftovers while he sat staring passively at his hands.

"You can't hide in the back of your own head forever, Erik. I don't know why you don't just come out. Oro misses you." _I miss you too._

Tess didn't know why she was talking to him when he didn't seem to even hear her, but as she sat watching him pick repeatedly at the same part of the blanket covering his legs, she decided the sound of her own voice was preferable to the silence and ended up telling him about the various criminals she'd captured and the worlds she'd visited. She didn't care if he never sang another note, but prayed she'd live to hear his beautiful voice again, if only in speech. She missed the sound of it dearly.


	21. Little Earthquakes

The month was peaceful in the Ohtamacil home, though Erik's recovery seemed to hit a troubling plateau. Erik still would not speak, nor would he eat without someone handing the food to him. He began to move about more on his own, though, mostly following Oro or Tess about the house like a child. Oro gave him little prompting, hoping that if he was given his head, so to speak, he would begin to make more of his own decisions.

Tess, though, was becoming quite clingy with Erik, dragging him about the estate with her by the hand, much as she had pulled him around when they first met. Oro seemed to find it amusing though Tess was not sure why it was so funny.

The three of them were sitting on the bank of the creek in the garden. Tess was trying to show Oro how to skip stones, but as she failed more often than not herself, it wasn't a very successful lesson. She had been quite reticent with Oro for a long time since coming to his home, but his gentle prodding had her relaxing for the first time in her recent memory. She found it very odd that she did not miss Hunting much. She missed her nights spent on wild worlds, perhaps, but the frantic chasing she normally engaged in had no pull on her.

Erik sat quietly with his bare feet trailing in the water. They now spent much of the time in the garden by the shady creek bank as Oro decided that fresh air and a bit of sun was a vital part of Erik's recovery. Tess gave up on the stones and randomly poked Erik in the flank. She frowned crossly when, yet again, he didn't react.

"You know Erik, I'm getting rather fed up with this."

Oro laughed at her and she stuck her tongue out at him. She was rarely so petulant and immature but her growing frustration with Erik's passivity was beginning to seep through.

"Have a little patience with him, Tess."

Tess stood up and stomped a few feet away.

"I've had plenty of patience with him! I think he's just being stubborn."

Tess left Oro confused and sitting on the bank with Erik and went back into the house. Erik spontaneously stood up a few seconds later and traced after her steps.

Tess was in the kitchen throwing a quick cheese sandwich together when she felt a presence behind her. She glanced upward to find Erik staring down at her from directly behind and she turned around to face him, having to crane her neck back due to his close proximity as he passively loomed over her.

"What is it, Erik? Are you going to say something finally?"

He didn't speak, but leaned over her, pressing into her and bending her backwards over the counter with his solid angular body while he picked up the sandwich behind her. He stepped back a few paces to stand in the doorway, picking at the bread and cheese, swallowing the small bits he pulled off slowly. Tess stared at him bemusedly.

"You've totally lost it, Erik, you know that? Batshit!"

Tess bolted past him out the door as tears burned their path down her cheeks. She ran all the way back to her room and shut the door behind her before burying herself in the blankets on her bed without even bothering to take her boots off.

She heard the door open some time later, but ignored the footsteps that stopped beside her bed. If Oro wanted to berate her for lack of manners, he could do it some other time. She was still busy crying and he could just damn well wait for her to finish.

The blanket was suddenly pulled off her head and she sat up with the intention of telling Oro off only to be met with sight of Erik kneeling beside her bed. They stared at each other while a few leftover tears clung to Tess's skin. Erik unexpectedly reached out with both hands and took a firm grasp of her face, hesitating only a second before planting a brief, awkward kiss to her forehead.

Tess stared in wide-eyed shock at him for a heartbeat before jerking herself from his grasp and shuffling backwards. He simply dropped his hands and stared back. Tess was frantically trying to decide whether or not to run when Oro appeared in the doorway.

"Ah, there you are. I was wondering where the two of you ran off to."

He took in Tess's red face.

"Are you alright, Tess? Well, come on, it's time for lunch. Both of you."

Tess gave Erik one more suspicious backwards glance and followed Oro to the dining room. She did not hear Erik following, his bare feet making no sound on the stone floor, but the weight of his presence behind her was unmistakable.

Lunch was silent and tense, leaving Oro to wonder what had happened between his grandson and Tess. He gave her several questioning looks but she offered up no information. Oro alternately ate and handed off bits to Erik while Tess picked at her own lunch. They had both been relieved earlier that Erik's appetite had returned, but Tess was now feeling rather ruffled at the odd theft of her snack earlier and the strange detached affection.

After lunch, Tess fled outdoors before Erik could follow and walked about a quarter of a mile from the house into the untouched wooded area at the back of the estate. She climbed up into a tree and hoped that Erik's uncanny homing ability would not be able to track her down. His behavior worried her on several levels. He wasn't a threat to her, surely? She didn't think he'd ever harm her, at least not intentionally, but the odd kiss he'd given her scared her somewhat. She'd never actually gotten a proper kiss from a boy, having been rather shy when still living on the Earth, but she doubt they were normally like that. She wasn't certain what she would've done if he'd kissed her on the mouth. She didn't quite want to admit that she would have hit him, most likely. Tess stared up at the small points of sunlight filtering through the blue-leaved canopy. Small yellowish bat-like creatures were hanging from the boughs several feet above her, eyeing her warily. She returned their suspicious look and dropped from the tree to the leaf litter below.

She wandered around aimlessly until she was suddenly approached by a servant from the house.

"Master Ohtamacil wants you back at the house. He's waiting in the dining room. You'd better hurry, he seemed angry."

"Over what?"

"I don't know, but his grandson was rather upset over something as well."

"Upset? What do you mean 'upset'?"

"Well, he was crying over something."

Tess wondered what the hell could be so bad that would set the hitherto mute man off and jogged back to the house. As soon as she rounded the corner into the kitchen, Oro pinned her to the wall with an angry glare. Erik was curled up in a chair with his knees against his chest, shaking with sobs. Oro had a hand on his back, for what little good it was doing.

"Tess! What in the name of the Four Winds did you do to him? He's been like this since you bolted off after lunch!"

"I didn't do anything, I swear!"

"Well you obviously did something!"

"I swear I didn't!"

"Don't lie to me, child. Something happened before lunch, so you'd better just confess."

Tess scratched her head and stared at Erik.

"_I_ didn't do anything, _he_ walked up behind me while I was making a snack, and leaned over me and stole it. I ran off to my room and later he showed up and…"

"And what?"

"Nothing! It doesn't matter!"

"If it didn't matter, why were you crying over it when I came to get you for lunch?"

"I was crying before he showed up!"

Oro scowled at her. He was obviously not satisfied with her answer but did not press her further. Tess stood and watched while Oro turned back to Erik, pulling at the arms wrapped tightly around his knees and trying to calm him. It wasn't Tess's fault, so why did she feel like she'd just kicked a kitten across the room? She sighed deeply and walked over to stand beside the two of them.

"Listen, I'm really sorry but I don't know what the hell I did wrong. He showed up in my room and sort of grabbed my face and kissed my forehead. I pulled away from him because it scared me, I didn't mean to upset him!"

Oro did not look up but nodded.

"No, Tess, you didn't do anything wrong. Thank you for telling me though."

Oro rubbed at Erik's back a minute longer before hooking an arm under his knees and then his shoulders, carrying him back to his room and placing him in his bed. Tess followed. Erik was still crying, though less noisily and Oro tucked the blanket over him and pulled Tess from the room by the elbow, leading her back to his study.

She sat down on the couch and Oro seated himself at his desk, closing his eyes briefly to collect his thoughts. He opened them a moment later and stood to retrieve something from chest of drawers against the opposite wall. He pulled a few candies from a bag and handed them to Tess, and took some for himself.

Tess popped one of the strange sweets into her mouth, finding something that tasted a bit like peppermint and a bit like chocolate.

"I apologize for my assumptions Tess. This little episode is not your fault. Even if it were, I think, I should probably thank you for it. If he's responding enough to the world around him again to get this frustrated with it, he must be trying to come back to himself. I think it's a good sign. I am sorry if his actions disturbed you earlier, but I do not think you have anything to fear from him. I think I will keep an eye on him though, and you should probably not be left alone with him."

"I'm not scared of him, not really. It was just kind of unexpected. I don't really think he'd try to hurt me. I wonder if it was really me he was even kissing? His face turned all blank again right after, like it hadn't even happened."

"Who knows, child? His mind is still in fragments. He may have thought you were any number of people, or maybe several at once."

They sat in Oro's study and worked their way through the entire bag of sweets over the next hour or so before Oro decided he'd better check up on Erik again.

Erik slept for the remainder of the afternoon and by the time dinner rolled around, he was back to his mute self as though nothing had happened at all. Tess wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not and gave Erik another experimental poke. She laughed loudly enough to scare a young servant into dropping a tray and have Oro questioning her sanity when the action earned her a small squeak and glance.


	22. Erik's Awakening

Author's note: Well, it did start out as a Mary Sue parody after all. I think I'm entitled to at least one Unlikely But Amusingly Cliché Deus Ex Machina. The quote hanging off the end of the chapter is from a favorite classic game boy game of mine, and one worth checking out. The plot is intriguing and has some interesting philosophical allusions for those so inclined.

----

'That mad kiss episode', as Tess referred to it in her own mind, seemed to have been a fluke. No more incidents followed over the next week and within a few days she was dragging him about with her without worry again. Even Oro seemed to have forgotten the incident.. Erik suddenly began talking one day though, but mostly just mumbling under his breath, speaking to someone who seemed to exist only in his head. He still did not speak directly to either Tess or Oro.

At first Tess had thought he was trying to say something to her, but while he was looking at her, he continued a conversation with some shade in his mind. He did this often now, talking at her when he was really addressing someone named Christine, usually to berate her on her singing technique. Tess didn't sing at all. Sometimes Erik talked at Oro too, calling him Giovanni or Daroga. She'd been upset by it the first time she realized what was happening, offended even, that he seemed to prefer the company of a woman who wasn't even present to her own. She knew it was petty and illogical, but she couldn't quite help it.

It continued day after day, and she was seriously starting to think she'd eventually go mad from it. The night she woke to the sound of his voice in her room, to find him sitting by her bed in the middle of a breathtaking song about an angel of music, it had taken all her will not to punch him. Indeed, if it had not been for the hypnotic effects of his exquisite voice, she likely would have. After the moment had passed though, her anger was replaced by an unsettling sense of despair and she'd rolled over and allowed his song, a precious gift clearly meant for someone he thought more deserving than herself, to lull her back to sleep.

Oro, Tess and Erik were sitting in the library one rainy afternoon. Oro was reading from a book to Erik, as he often did now, occasionally passing the book to him in futile efforts to get his grandson to take an interest in reading again. Oro eventually put the book aside and sighed in frustration. He pulled Erik to his side and put his head back against the couch cushion. Tess came over and sat on the other side of him.

"This isn't working, is it? Is he getting better or worse? He talks now, but not to us."

"I don't know, Tess… If he is making progress, I hope that it will not be affected by… Well Endo is coming back later today."

Tess frowned. Oro glanced at the clock.

"Any time now, actually. It's later than I thought. I suppose I'd better go greet him."

"You're letting him back into your home after what he did?"

"Yes, Tess. He is still my son, even if he is a fool, and even were he not my son, he is still my business partner. We lost many clients when word of Erik's existence and the disaster of getting him back got out. There's work that must be done and I need Endo here."

"If he so much as looks at Erik too hard, I'll beat him senseless."

Oro laughed.

"Oh you needn't worry about that, Tess. We've had a long discussion on the matter and he knows that any misbehavior on his part will not be tolerated.

Tess wasn't convinced.

"Well, still. He'd better not try anything while I'm around. I may not look like much, but I can hold up my end of a fight."

"I'm sure you can, child. I don't think he will consider giving Erik any grief with such a vicious guard with him all the time. It does my heart good to know he has you watching after him, you know. I worry less."

"Well good. Because Endo won't come near him if I have anything to say about it. He's been abused enough as it is."

Oro laughed and stood.

"No, I don't think anyone who valued his neck would challenge your love. Now I must go wait for Endo and deal with a few urgent issues. I will see you and Erik at dinner."

Oro left and Tess stared after him, trying to understand what he meant. Challenge her love? That was nonsense. She liked Erik, she had found him fascinating when she first met him, still did, but she loved no one.

She spent the rest of the afternoon in the library, wasting Oro's paper and ink sketching pictures of random objects laying around the room, including a few of Erik, making detailed studies of the odd angles of his scarecrow body and face. She pointedly ignored him the few times he spoke at her. He didn't need her reply anyway; his madness provided the other half of his discourse well enough.

She found herself pausing in her drawing when his usually inane nattering gained a desperate edge. He begged this ever-present Christine person to stay with him and be his 'living wife', telling her that he'd be gentle as a lamb if only she'd stay and he would not kill anyone else. She blinked owlishly at him as he stared at her imploringly while kneeling on the floor beside her. He was clearly on the edge of tears and becoming quite distraught. Tess glanced at the open door of the library, praying silently that Oro would appear. He did not. What was she to do? He never seemed to hear her when she replied to him.

He stood suddenly and glared at her, clearly now angry with Christine, his voice rising until he was practically screaming at her.

"If you don't turn the scorpion, you must turn the grasshopper. I tell you, it hops jolly high! We will all die, the powder will ignite! Do you despise me so, Christine?Would you rather all of us were dead? Save your little Vicomte and turn the scorpion, Christine! Choose me lest I die of grief! _Does my death mean nothing to you?_ No matter, wretched child, you will DIE WITH ME!"

Tess slapped him, hard. The rage drained out of his face and he suddenly looked lost and a few stray forgotten tears dripped down to his chin.

"I… I'm sorry Erik. I didn't mean it, you just scared me…"

"Yes, I always scare you, Christine. I know I'm a devil. That's why you left me. That's why I had to let you go. Christine, I love you..."

Her regret dissipated like mist under the morning sun, again replaced by a sudden mad fury. She grabbed his shirt and pulled his face to hers, staring at him from less than four inches away.

"I'm not Christine, damn you! I'm Tess! I'm TESS! Who the hell is Christine anyway? She's not here! I am here! Me, Tess! Talk to me, Erik, not her, ME! Why the hell can't you just TALK TO ME!"

She began shaking him and he suddenly grabbed her wrists, wrenching away from his shirt and twisting them over her head. Pain blossomed in her shoulders but she could not pull herself from his grasp as he pinned her to the floor, throwing all of his weight over her. He switched her right wrist to his other hand, holding them both tightly in one long-fingered hand. He stared down at her with hard burning eyes, the muscles connected to his jaw twitching on the side of his head and a vein popping out in the middle of his forehead. He put his other hand at her throat, gently at first but slowly beginning to compress her windpipe. He was going to strangle her!

Tess panicked and sucked in a deep breath quickly before he had a chance to cut off her air and jerked her head forward with as much strength as she could muster. Her forehead met his with a sickening crack and he slumped over to the side, slipping off of her just as she blacked out herself.

---

Tess woke stretched out on the couch in the library with a medic standing over her, shining a small light into her eyes. She shoved his hand away and looked around. Erik was still out, but someone had perched him in a chair across the room and a second medic was tending to him. Oro was standing in the room with Endo next to him. He waved off Endo, who left reluctantly after giving Erik and Tess each a sidelong look. Oro walked over to her after the medic left her side to go help the other with Erik. He looked extremely annoyed.

"That's a rather severe concussion you gave yourself. You didn't do Erik any good either. Would you care to explain how this happened?"

"I didn't mean to hurt him. He tried to throttle me, he would have killed me!"

"It's generally best to begin at the beginning, child. Please."

Tess rolled her eyes and started over.

"He was talking to Christine again and started getting upset because she wouldn't agree to marry him. Started yelling about a grasshopper and blowing things up... I… I slapped him and yelled at him and then he grabbed my hands and pinned me down and tried to strangle me. So… I cracked his head open with mine…"

Tess rubbed at the sore spot on her forehead.

"Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time, anyway."

Oro stepped away, looking troubled.

"He tried to hurt you?"

Tess didn't answer, thinking the question to be too obvious to even bother. Oro turned and walked over to Erik as the medics roused him. Erik blinked and looked up at his grandfather, squinting at the sudden light. He groaned at the pain in his head and rubbed at the bruise above his eyes. The medics packed up and left, telling Oro to call the hospital if there were further problems.

"What hit me?"

Oro held his breath for a long moment. Erik looked up at him, confused.

"Grandfather, what happened?"

"Tess hit you."

"Tess? She is here?"

"Yes Erik. She has been here for weeks… You don't remember?

Erik noticed her across the room and squinted at her. She watched him closely, wary of some trick.

"I… remember something… I think. Strange dreams. A man with a cruel laugh..."

He shook his head and laughed.

"Just nightmares, I suppose."

"Do you not remember anything of the last three months? The kidnapping?

Erik startled in surprise at the amount of time he seemed to be missing, then tried to think.

"Three months! I… not really… I don't think they were pleasant, though, grandfather. I feel like I was being kept somewhere dark."

"I suppose that's one way of putting it."

Tess rubbed at her head again and glanced around, looking anywhere but at Erik. She was still mad at him, for many reasons, not all of which she could even name. He wouldn't remember most of them, though, so it was pointless. She stood up and walked toward the door.

"Tess? Where are you going?"

"The kitchens. I missed dinner, obviously."

"You don't want to talk to Erik?"

"No, I don't."

She stepped out of the door and stomped off to the kitchens. Oro stared after her for a minute and turned back to Erik, who did not seem to know what to make of getting Tess's cold shoulder.

"Don't take it personally, Erik. She's just frustrated with you. You've confused her terribly lately, I'm afraid of. She's rather fond of you, actually."

Erik huffed and rolled his eyes.

"I rather doubt that. I've never met a woman who was 'fond' of me in the slightest. They like young handsome men. Especially soft little blonde-haired ones. I am, at most, an amusing novelty for her."

"I haven't met any other Tellurian women, Erik, but from what she's told me of them, I seriously doubt any of them are much like Tess. Don't underestimate her. She may well find you amusing, but I truly doubt she considers you trivial. Either way, I'd better go make sure she isn't tearing my kitchen apart in a fit at the moment. Stay here and rest. I will have a servant bring you something for your headache soon."

---

"_Sea bears foam, sleep beards dreams. Both end in the same way – Crasssh!"_

_-The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening_


	23. Conversations

Tess was rifling through the cupboards angrily, tossing bags and boxes back over her head as she excavated the pantries. Oro had to duck to avoid a bag of sugar.

"Would you please stop tearing apart my kitchens, Tess? If you need to know where something is, ask one of the servants."

Tess rolled her eyes and jammed a box back in its place.

"Is it my fault you don't have a single box of cheese-flavored crackers in this entire house?"

"Cheese-flavored crackers? Whoever heard of such a thing? Well, it's hardly worth tearing the place apart. Why not just put cheese on normal crackers? Well, never mind. We need to talk."

"We do _not_ need to talk. I already told you what happened, and it doesn't matter anyway because Erik doesn't even remember it. Think it would help if I gave him another concussion?"

Tess grabbed the box of plain crackers off the shelf and tossed it angrily on the counter.

"You remember it well enough."

"What difference does that make? Besides, if it made him stop talking to that idiot Christine over my head all day, then it was worth it, as far as I am concerned."

Tess stomped over to the fridge and pulled out the cheese and picked up a knife. She started to cut the cheese into small pieces.

"That's a lot of anger directed toward someone you've never met."

"Well, so what? I might as well have met her, I know more about her than I ever wanted to. Christine is so beautiful, she sings like an angel. Oh marry me Christine, or I'll blow up everything! Peuh! It's sickening. Why pine over someone who's afraid of you? It's obvious she left him. It's even more obvious she likely never wanted him to begin with!"

"Tess… You're right on one thing – This Christine, whoever she is, left him. She's long gone. You are here right now."

"So what? He loves Christine—God knows why. He doesn't love me. Sometimes I wonder if he even knows I'm alive."

Tess jammed the knife point-end-down into the carving board. Oro was silent for several moments.

"He doesn't know you. I don't think you know him that well either, not as well as you think you do. I don't even know his entire story."

"So? You still care about him."

"Yes, but he is my grandson. The situation is not the same."

"Well it's damn hard to get to know someone when they talk through you all day!"

"That is true, but as you said – that should not be a problem anymore. He has not recovered his whole memory, but he is no longer trapped in the past. I know you have been alone for quite some time and are probably rather impatient, but if you are serious about wanting any sort of relationship with Erik, friendship or otherwise, I think you'd best take things one step at a time. He may not be quite all you think he is and it would not serve to discover that years after the fact. Talk to him. If nothing else, you may at least find a true friend, and that is certainly worthwhile."

"I don't want to talk to him right now."

"Then don't. Talk to him some other time. He isn't going to disappear again, if I have anything to say on the matter. Just… do not wait too long."

Oro left Tess to her supper of crackers and cheese and returned to the library. Erik was still right where he'd left him.

"How is your head?"

"Better. I don't suppose you could tell me how I managed to offend Tess deeply enough to deserve a blow to the head?"

"The last few weeks have been rather trying… I don't suppose you can remember any of it at all?"

Erik shook his head.

"Nothing concrete. A few dreams, mostly about people I haven't seen in a long time."

"Giovanni, Daroga and Christine, you mean?"

"How do you know of the daroga and Christine? I know I have not told you of them!"

"You have, in great detail. Not intentionally, though. Over the past week you've had some interesting conversations with them. While I didn't mind being a stand-in for your old mentor and friend, I'm afraid you've spooked Tess rather badly, mistaking her so many times for Christine."

Erik never had much color in his skin, but he slowly turned absolutely white.

"What… what did I say to her?"

"Many things, over the past few days. I heard a bit of it. Some of it was quite amusing. Mostly, I think, you were berating her on her singing technique. Tess, of course, does not sing at all, so it was clear from the beginning you were speaking to someone else."

"Is that all? Then why did she hit me today?"

"I'm not entirely certain. She said you were upset because Christine would not marry you and threatened to blow something up. She was frightened and slapped you and I think the two of you ended up fighting each other. I did not arrive until you were both unconscious on the floor."

"I attacked her, then."

"Yes. I do not believe she would have knocked herself senseless with your hard head otherwise. Indeed, she seemed quite determined beforehand to see that you came to no more harm, when I mentioned the impending return of Endo."

"But she is well now?"

"Yes. It was only a concussion, easily remedied."

"Perhaps I should apologize to her."

"That might be advisable, but I would wait until tomorrow if I were you. She is in a rather foul mood at the moment."

"I will wait, then."

"Good. And I think perhaps we ought to talk about some of these people. You never told me much of your Giovanni, other than the fact that he was an architect. I gathered from one-sided conversations that you did not part on good terms. Something very misfortunate happened, did it not?"

Erik frowned.

"I see no point in dredging up the past. My history is hardly a bed of roses."

"Whose is? I still want to know where you've been."

"All sorts of places, none of which matter. I'll never see Giovanni again anyway. Even if I could return to Earth, he's no doubt dead by now. He was old already when I met him, and his health was deteriorating. You remind me of him, in some ways."

"Good ways, I hope."

"Yes, mostly."

"I understand if your past is painful. I will not force you to speak of it if it bothers you to do so. I only hope one day you will feel comfortable enough to confide in me. I do, think, however, that you owe Tess at least a brief explanation. She seems quite jealous of this Christine of yours."

Erik laughed bitterly.

"She's wasting her energy. I will never see Christine again."

"But she still holds reign over your heart."

"Of course she does! How could she not? I love her with all my soul! But I had to let her go…"

"It seems to me you have not let her go in the slightest. What service do you do her by clinging to your pain? I do not know your beliefs, but in Eranae tradition, desperate unrequited love is considered a source of ill will, casting bad fortune upon both the object of desire and the one who desires. After death, it is said to cause the spirit to linger in this world, angering the Winds. Superstition, perhaps, but I agree with the overall sentiment. Cherish your memory of your time with her, love her always, if you must, but do not turn aside everyone else. You will not betray Christine by loving another. She has already left you. You will harm yourself greatly, though, if you continue to wallow in your pain. If this girl cared for you even in the slightest measure, I doubt she would wish you to torment yourself on her behalf."

"You say that easily enough, but what of you? I assume your wife passed away, you have not remarried."

"I did not remarry because I did not meet anyone I wished to marry. I am far too old for that sort of thing now, anyway."

"And I am not? I am nearly 46."

"Hardly. That is still fairly young for an Eranae. Most these days do not marry until they are past 35, by your calendar. You're a bit older than the average, but not greatly so."

"How long do your people live, then?"

"_Our_ people typically live about 120 or 130 years. The women tend to live a bit longer than the men. I believe the record highest age of death is around 170 or so."

"And how old are you, then?"

"About 90, I think, by your reckoning. I have a bit of life in me yet, if that's what worries you. Barring accidents, it should be some time yet before I leave you."

"Then you had better be careful."

"I am always careful. But back to my original point, Erik—If Tess has no reason to be jealous of Christine, you ought to tell her so. I believe it would go far toward her peace of mind. Just make sure you are speaking the truth if you do. There is no great rush, but do not wait forever. She seems content to stay in my house at the moment, but I cannot guarantee she will not fly off in that ship of hers if you confuse her too badly."

"Why should it matter if she leaves? She seems successful at what she does, I think she does not need your support."

"You would not miss her presence? You do not even consider her a friend?"

"I… suppose I do. I owe her my current home. I'd never have met you if she had not found me."

"You should not base a friendship solely on a sense of debt."

"To be frank, I am not certain what to make of her in any fashion. I do not believe I have never met a female like her at any point in my life… She's not particularly feminine."

"That bothers you?"

"It's unsettling sometimes. It doesn't bother me as much as it did when I first met her, but it is still… odd. She seems entirely too competent for her sex. She's nothing like Christine."

"You have not met many strong women, then? I do not know how women in your culture are expected to act, but on most of the modern worlds, they are required to have some measure of independence. They are educated and many of them are professionals in their fields. Most of them do not choose to Hunt, but regardless... Well, as for Tess, she's not nearly as together as she pretends. She's no frail wilting flower, but neither is she made of stone. As far as being feminine or not, that is a definition that changes rapidly both within a single culture and across cultures. Do not put too much stock in such nebulous ideas. She seems fairly normal to me, beyond her questionable choice of career. As for Christine, if you seek only to find another like her, you will always be unsatisfied."

"She was so beautiful, though. I needed... _need_ her beauty. I was a fool to ever think she could love a monster like me."

"Not all beauty is readily obvious, nor is all ugliness. If you wish only to look at the surface of things for the rest of your life, you will miss much of the truth. Learn to look more than skin-deep. If you would judge another on appearance alone, you will only repeat the sins of those who rejected you. Do not make a hypocrite of yourself, Erik. And you are no monster, however much you would like to consider yourself one."


	24. The Beauty Myth

Author's note: I have a 15-page term paper I need to begin working on, so I can't guarantee daily updates any longer. I'll try to have at least one or two chapters out a week though. I'm sure you all understand. :P

---

Oro's words rolled around uncomfortably about Erik's head for the rest of the night. A hypocrite? What did he mean? _If you would judge another on appearance alone, you will only repeat the sins of those who rejected you. Do not make a hypocrite of yourself, Erik._

He was not a hypocrite! He didn't hate Tess for her plainness or her functional, pragmatic nature. The girl clearly had developed her skills and curious androgyny for the sake of sheer survival and he could not fault her for that. He had never berated her for it, at any rate. He couldn't remember speaking a word against her in Oro's presence. She just wasn't Christine, that was all.

Tess was plain. Christine was beautiful. Tess did not sing at all. Christine sang like a goddess. His own soul flowed out to the world through Christine's voice. How could Tess ever reflect him like that? She had too many of her own ideas and opinions and her own path in life to do what Christine had done. Christine had been simple by comparison. She had become another piece of art for him as he shaped her voice and, loathe as he was to admit it, her mind. She had been the greatest acheivement of his life. All of his art was inexorably a part of himself and he could no more exorcize Christine from his soul than he could his music. His heart still bled from the wound of her parting.

Erik slept fitfully and woke late the next morning. Breakfast had long since passed and he wandered out to the garden. Oro was not in his customary spot and was likely holed up in his office with Endo going over neglected business. He looked down the creek bank and saw Tess perched in a tree several yards away. He moved to approach her but suddenly stopped, springing soundlessly up into another tree behind him instead, climbing high in the branches with the deftness of a gibbon.

Erik was so used to spying on people that the act no longer caused him the slightest twinge of conscience and he watched her. She had in her lap a pile of the long thin blue-green blades of grass that grew between the trees near the creek. She was braiding and weaving them together, occasionally reaching over her head to pull leaves from the branches and work them into the pattern. When she lifted her project to inspect it, he saw that the object was not anything with a definite form, but a fluid geometrical pattern somewhat bringing to mind the intricate knot-work so favored by the Irish. She began looping more of the reeds around the edge of it, forming a circular frame to contain it.

Erik watched her for nearly an hour as she completed the tedious project. She must have been out here since dawn to finish it. She slipped down the trunk of the tree and began walking back toward the house with her finished work. She passed the tree Erik was perched in and took three steps before stopping. She looked up, searching around as if she'd heard something. Her eyes landed on Erik up in the branches. She stared at him for a full minute before turning without a word and continuing on to her original destination.

Erik dropped from the tree like a cat and went inside. He found the object before he found Tess. She had dropped it on the table in the hall thoughtlessly, like it had meant nothing to her. He picked it up and studied it, trying to follow the lines with his eyes. It seemed to have no ending or beginning, just a continuous blue-green loop ever folding back on itself, creating a web of ellipsoid shapes. It was mesmerizing. He tucked it under his arm and went further into the house.

Tess was not in her room, so he went to check the library. It was empty and he was about to leave when he caught sight of the papers scattered over the floor. He picked them up one by one, finding detailed life-like sketches of random objects laying about the library. Some of them were drawn so close-up that he had to stare at them for a minute to discern what the object was. Some of them he could not figure out at all.

He nearly dropped the page when he picked up a sketch of his own face. Why on Earth, or off it, as the case may be, would she want to draw him? He was beyond ugly. But there it was, a sketch of his face in intricate detail down to the last vein and wrinkle. The pictures he had not been able to figure out before now made sense – a bit of his collar bone, a bit of his arm, half of his ear, the lower corner of his 'nose'… He scooped up the remaining papers to find even more mixed in with the inanimate objects. How she had managed to look at him long enough to make a fairly complete catalogue of all the unclothed parts of his body, he did not know. No one else save Oro had ever been able to stand the sight of him without at least a bit of unease, if not outright terror.

A detailed study of his eyes raised more questions than answers. Tess did not seem to recognize ugliness when it stood before her. Perhaps that is why she dressed plainly and wore no powder or jewelry? How could one look upon ugliness and mistake it for beauty? He tried to imagine, for a brief moment, what the universe looked like through this damnably confusing girl's eyes. He could not quite manage it. Nor could he resolve this with the object he'd picked up from the hall. Again, the girl simply made no sense!

He turned around as someone entered the room. Tess stared at him with her mouth slightly open. She glanced back toward the door briefly. She obviously had not expected to run into him. Her eyes fell on the papers in his hand and her face turned red as her eyes went wide. She let out a strangled squeak and rushed over and snatched them from him, hugging them to her chest.

"Tell me you didn't look at them, you weren't supposed to see them…"

"I looked at them. I'm not angry if that is what you fear, though I cannot fathom why you would wish to draw me."

Tess shrugged.

"You have no reason, then?"

She shrugged again.

"You're interesting. I like to draw interesting things."

"'Interesting'. I don't think I have ever been described as _interesting_ before. Hideous, perhaps, or maybe monstrous or a corpse… but _interesting_?"

"Well… You're not pretty, but I've seen uglier things."

"I doubt that."

"Well, you don't have to agree with me. I've seen a lot more than you have. And I still think you're interesting."

"I've seen quite a bit myself, I'll have you know. I have at least two decades on you."

"All spent on one planet. I've been to over a hundred of them."

"Briefly. I, however, have been to India, Persia and all over Europe for more time than it took to capture some criminal and leave again. I've seen enough."

"Point taken. Why are we arguing about this? I still think you're interesting."

Tess walked past him and flopped on the couch. Erik sat down gently beside her and set the papers on the edge of the end table. He pulled the reed project from under his arm and set it in his lap.

"I don't suppose you could explain this object to me?"

Tess stared at it blankly.

"That stupid thing? It's nothing. Just something I threw together this morning to keep my hands busy. Helps me to think."

Erik fingered the object, tracing the infinite loop with a deceptively delicate looking finger.

"What were you planning on doing with it?"

"Nothing, really. Let it hang somewhere till it turned brown, then chuck it out."

"You spent hours on it. You could simply throw it aside?"

"I can make another one. I mean, I usually don't remember the exact pattern of them since I just make them up as I go along, so they all turn out a bit differently, but still, I can make more. If you like it so much, you keep it."

Erik turned it around in his lap, still seeking his way out of labyrinth.

"If you see so little worth in it, perhaps I should keep it! What would this universe be worth if there were no beauty in it? Beauty should never be so carelessly tossed aside!"

Tess frowned. She didn't think they were talking about her little reed-web any more and the hint

"But ugly things should? I don't think that's a very healthy attitude to have. Plenty of pretty things are worthless, harmful even. Some ugly things are necessary."

"Ugliness is sign of the taint of evil, Tess. You would do well to learn to recognize it and steer clear of it."

Tess seemed to think about the meaning of that statement for a minute, then shook her head and rolled her eyes again.

"Erik, that is such utter bullshit, I've half a mind to slap you for it. Evil has a beautiful face. It would have to, otherwise how could it seduce anyone? It might be ugly inside, but on the outside, it would almost have to be very attractive. You catch flies with honey, not vinegar. Besides that, I've met plenty of beautiful, seemingly virtuous people who were actually quite rotten inside, nothing but a whited sepulcher. I've also met plenty who would crack a mirror by looking at it who were about as kind and generous as they come. Ugly things can be evil or not; beautiful things can be good or not. They're not mutually exclusive."

Erik sneered at her.

"Foolish child. You clearly do not know what you are talking about!"

Tess huffed and stood up, standing before him with her hands perched on her hips defiantly.

"I think I know damn well what I'm talking about. You're not evil, you're just too damned vain for your own good. I swear, you're _obsessed_ with your appearance! And everyone else's! For chrissake, _get over it!_ Oh boo hoo, the pretty singer wouldn't marry you so you had to blow up something! Do you really hate your face so much that you to need to tie some pretty little spoiled doll to yourself to wake up in the morning? Learn to live with your own feathers, you bloody peacock!"

Erik's eyes burned and he stood up abruptly, causing Tess to stumble back a few paces as his superior height towered over her. Her eyes did not leave his once, though, despite her obvious discomfiture. Her bull-headed courage only angered Erik further. Any other woman would be cowering in the corner right now, why couldn't she just follow the damned rules! He practically roared at her.

"Do not speak ill of Christine! _Never_ speak against her! She was an angel of beauty far beyond you in beauty and grace and you could never hope to match her, you ugly little TOAD!"

He was expecting her to bolt from the room immediately, or cry. She did neither. Tess's eyes narrowed threateningly and she stared up at him more defiantly than ever. She practically spat her reply in his face.

"Better an ugly little toad than a great ugly fool who can't see beyond the end of his own flat nose!"

She turned on her heel and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind her. The drawings perched on the table fluttered again to the floor. His own sad eyes stared up at him from his feet, accusing him. He gave it a swift kick, sending it underneath the couch.


	25. Madness

Erik closed his eyes and tried to reign in his breathing after Tess left. How dare she! How dare she speak ill of Christine! To think that she had accused him of loving her only for the sake of his own vanity, it was madness! He had loved her with all his heart and soul, had poured his spirit and music into her, amplifying her own natural beauty a hundredfold.

Erik collapsed back onto the couch and released his death-grip on the object being crushed in his hands. He had warped the circle of reeds around the perimeter of the web in his anger. He pulled at the braid, trying to force it back into its original shape, but it remained slightly bent despite his efforts.

_Spoiled little doll_. Insolence! Christine had been a bit childish in certain (always endearing) ways, but she was never spoiled. Tess was jealous, that was all. The girl was mad. She did not know of what spoke. How could a child like that possibly know the face of evil? He knew evil. He had served evil more than once, and saw its face in every mirror he passed. Erik put the web aside, laying it on the couch next to him, and buried his face in his hands. Stupid girl. Stupid, stupid girl! Why did she rouse such conflicted feelings in him? He was fascinated by her, he owed her a great debt, and yet he wanted to throttle her, grasp her by the neck and shake her until some measure of sense seeped in. Why did her foolish words cause such a deep pain? No one had been able to pierce him so and survive to tell the tale since he last spoke to the Persian daroga.

He looked up through parted fingers as the door cracked and slowly opened. Oro stepped into the room, hesitating a moment before walking over to where Erik sat. He bent down and gathered up the papers on the floor, somehow catching sight of the sketch underneath the couch and pulling it out as well. He sat down next to Erik, dropping the sketches in his lap.

"I saw Tess in the hall. She's rather angry. I assume you said something to her, and it must have been quite something indeed. I do not know what, but she was practically screeching 'hypocrite!' as she stormed off. I think she's quite frightened a few of my staff."

Erik propped his head on his folded hands and stared at some indeterminate spot on the floor.

"Tess is a fool and I told her as much."

Oro's expression turned grim.

"That's a rather harsh judgment, and one I do not believe she entirely deserves. May I ask what she did to earn this condemnation from you?"

"She said that I loved Christine for the sake of my vanity only, and called her spoiled. Nonsense! Utter rubbish! The girl is clearly insane with jealousy of Christine's beauty!"

"Oh, is she? That is quite odd, you know, considering the fact that she has never seen Christine."

"Well obviously she gathered some knowledge of Christine's superior beauty and grace when I was rambling in my madness."

"Has it ever occurred to you, Erik, that it is not Christine's appearance or skills that she covets, but rather her hold over your thoughts?"

Erik laughed.

"If that girl desires my presence, much less my thoughts, then she truly is mad. I am neither handsome nor wealthy nor kind."

Oro sighed heavily.

"Erik, you worry me. Can you not see even the slightest measure of your own worth? Tess is not a complete fool, no matter how childish she may be acting at the moment, and she's obviously seen something in you she deemed worthy of her time."

Erik sneered. He picked up the grass web again, worrying at the bent spot on the edge.

"She can't see ugliness when it is staring her in the face. She does not know evil when it sits before her. She does not know beauty either. If you sat beauty and ugliness side by side, I doubt she could tell you which was which!"

Erik held up the intricate web to show Oro.

"She spent hours making this earlier today, sitting up in a tree in your garden. When she was finished with it, she tossed it carelessly on the table in the hall, and when I asked her what she was to do with it, she bluntly replied that she would just 'hang it somewhere until it turned brown, then throw it out'. I have never seen a design like this in my life, and she would throw it out as though it were nothing!"

Oro took the object from him to study it.

"She made one of these while you were ill, too, when she was feeling particularly frustrated. It did not seem a difficult task for her. She clearly had her mind on other things while she made it. She could make more of them, no doubt."

Erik threw his hands up in exasperation.

"You two are both mad! Beauty should be treasured, not thrown about like toys!"

Oro pulled Erik to his side firmly, despite Erik's efforts to pull away in annoyance.

"Erik, _she can make more_. Nothing lasts forever, anyhow. Honestly, child, I worry about you! You have made an idol out of a very narrow definition of physical beauty and you seem completely blind to all other forms. I do not know who poured this self-hatred into your heart, but it is high time you let go of it. If this idol of yours is worth more to you than your friendship with Tess, then I pity you greatly."

Oro let go of him and stood, handing the stack of sketches to Erik.

"I must get back to my work, I'm afraid. I will say one thing before I leave, though. Do not dismiss Tess's words completely. She may have said something cruel to you in her anger, but whatever else she is, she is not a liar. In fact, I have found that she is honest and blunt to a great fault. Open your eyes, Erik. Try to see the beauty around you for what it is. You will accomplish nothing by rejecting everything that does not look or sound like your Christine. She is but one form of beauty among many."

Oro left Erik sitting in the silent library with a sketch of his own eyes still glaring its indictment of him.

_Completely blind… Open your eyes, Erik. Better an ugly little toad than a great ugly fool who can't see beyond the end of his own flat nose! _

The end of his own flat nose, she'd said. Short-sighted indeed. Their voices flapped around his head like a flock of carrion birds. He squinted his eyes against the headache forming between them and shuffled through the sketches. They were quite good. He never would have expected a rough unpolished creature like Tess to draw like this. She was… not beautiful. She was nearly the antithesis of beauty. She was not ugly either, just a nondescript forgettable plainness. She was practical, earthy and plain. The sort of girl who, if she had been born a commoner in 19th century France (He simply could not envision her as one of the nobility, no matter how hard he tried) would end up as an unhappy but efficient rawboned housewife, rearing her plain children like little soldiers and wrestling her plain husband into a straight, sober life, determined to live with a plain dignity despite their poverty. There was nothing about her that suggested the presence of an imagination or an appreciation for something as frivolous as art.

Well, no, that was not entirely true. The planet they had camped on the night after she'd picked him up had been absolutely stunning. From her familiarity with the terrain and local fauna, it was obvious she had stayed there before. He had not thought much of the fire pit that had clearly seen repeated use, but it seemed likely now that she had been the only one to use it, and had used it often.

_Not all beauty is readily apparent._

Erik stared at the sketch of his hands in his lap. He lifted his own hands and stared at them, turning them over and back again and again, trying to discern what about them Tess had deemed worthy of her attention. They were thin, like all of him, with long fingers and large joints. His yellowish skin was just barely starting to wrinkle and loosen with age. All in all, they were not really unusual hands, other than the long fingers. He had seen thinner in his life, though not many.

He flexed his fingers a few times and picked up the sketches again. There were three of his hands, oddly. Nothing else of him, save his eyes, had seemed to garner more than a single study. She had told him that she found him 'interesting.' What kind of idiot describes another's body simply and dismissively as merely 'interesting' and nothing else, as though it were nothing more than some odd object, a vessel utterly disconnected from the entity living inside it?

_Someone who values what is within more than what is without, perhaps?_

Where did that thought come from? He shook his head. Maybe Oro was right. Maybe he was blind. Tess and Oro both clearly had a vision of the world around them that was broader than his own. He'd always thought himself head and shoulders above the rest of the human race, yet here was a girl who clearly saw things he did not. It was unthinkable!

He suddenly wondered what Christine would have made of the girl. Christine had always sought to see the good in others. She had naïvely believed that no one was fully evil. She sought out the good in him, too, at the end, and he had been forced to let her go when she found the last dying ember of purity buried so deep within him that he had not even known of its existence. She had pulled the weak reluctant little thing out into open air, breathing just enough life into it that he would be forced to release her. She had nearly ripped him in two in the process. It was such sweet cruelty that he could not bring himself to hate her for his destruction at her gentle hands.

She was gone now, and he had no one left to tend to the dying ember in his soul or his bleeding heart but an aging grandfather and an infuriating girl. Oro too, sought to bring out the good in him. Tess… Tess sought out the good in him as well, he thought, but she sought out something else too, and it seems she had found in him something she thought… beautiful.

The girl was clearly unhinged.


	26. The Truth about Cats & Dogs

The next morning he found Oro in his usual spot on the bank of the creek. Erik sat beside him silently, hesitating a moment before leaning his head onto his grandfather's shoulder without prior encouragement for the first time. Oro smiled to himself and glanced down at Erik. He had his eyes closed and looked nearly as though he were asleep, though Oro knew he was not. He reached around Erik and pulled his grandson into a light embrace. He did not stir, seeming content to play possum for a moment longer.

"I am far too old to be this confused. Nothing makes sense."

"Life would be dull if everything were predictable."

Erik opened his eyes to watch the water passing in the creek below.

"Why did I follow Tess, grandfather? I should be dead now, laying forgotten underneath the Parisian opera house that I designed and built. It would have been a fitting end."

Oro pulled Erik imperceptibly tighter to himself and sighed.

"I do not know, Erik, but I am ever grateful that you are not. And to be forgotten anywhere is an end that fits no one."

"At least it is an end I could understand. Everything I thought I knew seems highly questionable. All my life, there were several immutable truths I could always rely upon. Now, they have proven less than steadfast."

"Such truths as?"

"That I am meant by fate to be alone and despised. That which is evil is ugly and that which is good is beauty…"

"It is rarely advisable to approach life in such strict black and white terms. And you are certainly not despicable nor should you be alone. You've been alone far too much, in my opinion. And while you may be no stunning beauty, I, at least, do not find you _ugly_ by any stretch."

"And what of Evil?"

Oro sighed with a deep mental fatigue.

"Erik, if your mother were here right now, I'm afraid I would have to slap her senseless for planting this asinine idea into your head! You are not evil! I know you say you have done evil things in the past, but no one, Erik, _no one_ is completely innocent. We all have regrets."

"Tess said, last night… She said I was vain. She said that I loved Christine only because I wanted her beauty to make up for my own ugliness."

"Hm."

Erik waited for Oro to say something other than 'hm' but he did not and Erik grew impatient.

"Grandfather, is she right or is she wrong?"

"Erik… I honestly cannot say for certain. You have not told me much of your relationship with Christine. I gathered from your rambling that you taught her to sing and that she would not marry you when you asked. I know little of your motives on the matter. It is up to you to decide whether or not Tess's words hold any truth."

"You do not think I am vain, then?"

Oro sighed again.

"Erik… You are clearly preoccupied with a certain definition of beauty to a point that is arguably rather unhealthy. This poisonous obsession of yours seems to seep into every aspect of your life and especially how you think about and judge other people and yourself. That is all I can say. If it is any consolation to you, most people are quite vain, though not always about the same things. It is up to you to decide if you are and if you wish to change. I cannot do that for you."

Erik sat silently with his grandfather, watching the creek slither past for some time. Could Tess possibly be right? Did he love Christine only because he wanted her 'feathers' for his own? As a young child that still believed God listened to his prayers, he'd prayed every night before bed that he would wake up the next morning and at least be normal, if he could not actually be beautiful. Then maybe his mother would have given him the affection he'd wanted. If only he'd been as beautiful as her, she would have loved him, right?

If everything else about him had remained the same, only that his face were fair, his mother would have loved him. Tess did not seem to notice or care that his face was ugly. His skeletal body was a merely another oddity to be studied and deconstructed on paper to her. His grandfather did not find him ugly at all. Yet his mother had denied him even the slightest scrap of warmth and family because of his appearance. Was her rejection of him truly based on something so shallow, so purely physical? He must be evil. There must be something _else_ wrong with him. He_ had_ to be evil, otherwise…

Erik shivered and Oro pulled him closer. Erik hid his face against Oro's chest.

"Why did my mother hate me so? What did I do wrong?"

Oro stared down Erik thoughtfully before replying, giving weight to his response.

"Absolutely _nothing_. What she did to you is not your fault, Erik, in even the slightest measure."

Erik closed his eyes tightly, trying to hold back the quiet tears that seeped through to dampen Oro's coarse robes. How could a mother throw away her only son because he was ugly—_just_ ugly? So maybe the circumstances of his conception had been violent, but it's not like he had asked to be born in such a manner.

"If I did not look like Ohte, if I had been born looking completely human—"

"If you had been born looking like a full-blooded Tellurian, she may well have been kinder to you. Or perhaps she would not have. There is no way either of us will ever know, Erik, and you will only torment yourself further by wallowing about in maybes and could-haves. At this point, perhaps it is better if you simply accept your past and forgive your mother's childish fear. There is nothing you could have done to change it."

Erik tugged sharply at the loose thread on his robe he had been worrying, and broke it. He tossed it into the creek and watched it disappear.

---

Tess was actively avoiding him. Running from him, in fact. She'd duck into room or up a tree when he approached, and he would catch just a glimpse of her long hair flipping around a corner. He had spent the entire day following his row with her and his conversations with Oro reexamining his own life and by the end of it, he had resolved to apologize for his earlier insult, however much she had earned it. Tess, though, seemed determined not to give him a chance to do it.

He was somewhat insulted by it at first, but by the third day, he was merely tired of it and when she flew up a tree near the creek like cat, he swung up into the branches after her, chasing her to the thinnest branches that would still bear her weight. She glanced across at another nearby tree and as he reached up to pull himself to her level, she hunched her legs under her and leapt like a monkey toward it. She grabbed onto a branch, swinging toward the trunk. It suddenly snapped before she could grab hold of the trunk and she fell several feet, breaking branches beneath her, before grabbing onto a solid one and stopping her fall less than five feet from the ground.

Erik dropped from the tree he was in swiftly as Tess slowly lowered herself to the ground, shaking from the sudden shock of her fall. As soon as her feet touched solid ground, she sat down, curling over herself. Erik knelt beside her. He tentatively reached out, and after hesitating a moment, laid his hand on her back.

"Are you injured?"

She shook her head in the negative against her knees. Erik gently pried her hands away from her legs and she slowly straightened her feet out in front of her, but did not look up. Erik looked her over. She was scratched up across her arms and face, a particularly deep one across her forehead oozing blood down her face and leaving a stain on her knees, but she did not seem severely injured. He pulled a clean handkerchief from a pocket and pressed it firmly against the cut, holding it there. Her shaking ceased a moment later and she seemed to have recovered, for the most part. She was feeling well enough to be cross with him, anyway.

"There was no reason for you chase me like a dog after a cat you know."

"If you do not wish to be chased, perhaps you should not flee like prey. There was no reason for you to make that foolish jump. I have no intention of harming you."

"How the hell was I supposed to know that?"

Erik sighed and ground his teeth.

"Have I ever given you cause to believe that I would hurt you?"

"Yes, actually. That time you tried to strangle me, for example. And you made your opinion of me quite clear a few days ago."

"I was not in my right mind when I attacked you. As for my comments…"

Erik pulled the cloth back and checked the cut. The bleeding had stopped, mostly. It did not look like it would need to be stitched, or whatever served for stitching on this world. Tess watched him skeptically.

"As for my comments… you are not an ugly little toad. Merely an occasionally irritating one who nearly kills herself jumping across trees"

Tess's gaze dropped to her lap and she rubbed at the sticky blood from the scratches on her arm. She did not respond to his admission.

"I, however, may well be a great ugly fool and an old peacock. Oro… I have found that Oro is often right about many things. You and he seem to see… certain things… in a similar fashion. Loathe as I am to admit it, you may both be right in your assessment of me…"

Tess fidgeted under Erik's sudden humility, guilt seeping into her mind.

"Erik, I didn't mean that... And I shouldn't have made fun of Christine, I know you love her. I've never even met, her, so I don't know what she's like."

Erik dropped the bloody handkerchief onto the grass rubbed hard at his eyes. The past few days had left his mind in turmoil as he was forced to face his own shortcomings and the flaws in his perception of reality.

"No, you have no right to speak ill of a girl you do not know. You do know me though, and are not entirely wrong in your judgment of me, however."

Erik picked up the red-stained cloth and climbed down the bank to the creek to wash it, pulling Tess after him and sitting them both down on one of the large flat rocks. He proceeded to use the wet handkerchief to wipe the blood from her face and arms. Tess surprised him and herself by not protesting. He sighed and decided at that moment that he would tell her what happened. If she decided then and there that she never wanted to speak to him again, then so be it. If he were to be damned, for once he would be damned for precisely what he was and nothing more or less.

"Christine was not spoiled. She was many things, but not spoiled. I saw her first as child, you know? She was about eight or nine years old, I suppose, when she joined the opera, first as a ballet rat, then a couple years later as a chorus girl. Her father was a Swedish violinist, reputedly very talented. He had died only a week before she came to the opera. It was obvious from the beginning that she had inherited all of his talent and more. Her voice, even as a child, was something to behold. I am sorry to say, I took full advantage of her powerful imagination, hiding behind a mirror in her dressing and playing a story her father had planted in her head of the Angel of Music for all it was worth. I only wished to train her voice, you know. I did not set out to seduce her, not at first. I merely thought it a waste to leave her under the tutelage of morons when her voice was clearly meant to be in the spotlight. She would have been frightened of me if I had approached her in any other way, even with the mask."

Tess sat quietly listening, afraid to speak lest she cause him to loose his nerve now that he seemed inclined to speak of his past.

"She grew more and more beautiful as each year passed, and her voice grew in strength and quality under my guidance. If there was an angel of music, she was the angel, not I. I made her into an angel of music… and I soon wanted to keep her all for my own. That was not to be, clearly. She had another suitor. A young nobleman whom she had known in her childhood. A nice enough chap, I suppose. A bit weak, if you ask me, but who am I to judge a woman's choice of husband? She saw something of worth in him, obviously. At any rate, playing at being her Angel worked only so far. She unmasked me the very evening I brought her to my home on the lake and no matter how I begged her to stay, no matter how I pleaded that I would treat her gently, she would not stay. She was terrified of me, and rightly so. I resorted to kidnapping her outright and threatened the life of her little chap to gain her consent. She gave it, in the end, after much grief, if only to save her little suitor. She kissed me, you know. The first and last kiss I was ever given."

Erik gazed into the light playing on the surface of the water and wiped away the errant tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. Tess watched him, waiting for him to continue as understanding sank in.

"She didn't leave you then… You let her go."

Erik barked a sound halfway between a laugh and sob.

"Yes, I let her go. I could no more keep her there in the darkness with me than I could cage a nightingale and expect it to live. She would have died down there, living in hell with me, in spirit at least, if not in body. How could extinguish that brilliant light and live with myself? No, I let her go, and her little chap. I suppose they are married by this point. Perhaps she has a new baby by now, a perfect little baby she and her chap will love and spoil. Their children will all be beautiful, as they should be."

Tess wrung the wet handkerchief in her hands. Life was highly unfair, she thought. Why should a genius be forced to hide behind a mirror and pretend to be an angel just to share his knowledge with another? It was stupid. _Damned Victorians and their stupid arrogant men and stupider uneducated women…_

She still did not like Christine, but the venomous envy left her as she realized the futility of trying to worm her way into this man's heart. It was likely sealed off forever now, hidden behind more walls and barricades than could be counted. After going through something like that, she knew if it had been her, she would probably never let herself love another soul. Not that she had ever loved anyone in the first place…

Erik pulled the damp cloth from her hands and stood, waiting for some kind of response from her. Would she still desire his thoughts or his presence? He doubted it. Tess stared up at him, waiting for him to do something. Would he want her around, even as a friend? Why was he even telling her these things?


End file.
